


Wish of A Dying Man

by vision97



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Developing Relationship, Gen, Genjutsu, M/M, Repeat for y'alls at the back... male slash romance, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-26 01:28:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 62,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14989766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vision97/pseuds/vision97
Summary: Because of circumstances and Naruto's heroic idiocy, Naruto is dealt a mortal blow by Sasuke in order to protect Konoha. In Naruto's final moments, Sasuke places him in a genjutsu where time moves faster and asks him what is the one thing he would like to do before he dies. Naruto's answer is to see the world of Sasuke's travels.With a lesser lease on life and nothing left to lose, the two travel through the genjutsu to some significant places in Sasuke's travels. Death seems to break down the last few barriers between them but Naruto's death inches ever closer. It only seems that heart break awaits them. (going through an editing run of all current chapters, will still be publishing chapters though. Currently working on chapter 24 (Shikamaru shinden has been removed because it was supposed to happen as a prologue to the second phase of Naruto POV).edited: Chapter 1-5.





	1. Murder and mercy

"Kurama, why can't we heal?" Naruto rasped out, wrecked even as projection in his own mind. He turned to find Kurama slouched on the ground in Naruto's mind clutching at his chest with a wound similar to the one Naruto had received in the real world. The bars to the seal that contained Kurama were cracking under the stress that Naruto's body was under. The steady current of pain running through Naruto's entire being was undulating from blinding intensity to a bone chilling emptiness that set Naruto on edge.

  
"Damn uchiha brat! He blended ameterasu and chidori with the senjutsu of old man six paths when he used his blade. I'm impressed." Kurama groaned looking at Naruto with a look that Naruto had only seen when Hagoromo's ghost had faded back into oblivion almost twenty years ago. Grief. 

Oh.

  
"Will you survive?" Naruto asked quietly. Kurama chuckled in that inhuman way of his. Their mindscape, dark as it was, shuddered.

  
" It will take more than that to destroy me." Kurama looked at him then, fox eyes softening,

  
"But as for your physical form..."

  
"I know." Naruto interrupted gently with a bitter, resigned smile. He wasn't happy with dying,far from it, but things had gone downhill so quickly with the attack from the Otsutsuki-- the exterdimensional beings had been prepared.Then he had been stupid and now... Now, Sasuke had been forced to kill him. 

  
"Damn uchiha brat!" Kurama repeated sounding so old.

  
" It wasn't his fault." Naruto chided the demon. He supposed even approaching death Naruto would be defending the Uchiha.

"Naruto." A deep human voice called out. Naruto knew who it was even without sensing his presence.

  
"Sasuke." The man appeared beside him; unruffled as always. His hair wasn't hiding his rinnegan and the eye pulsed steadily with power even within the recesses of Naruto's mind. The rumbling receded and things stabilised somewhat in Naruto's mindscape.

  
" You dare force yourself in here!" Kurama roared, running towards the bars.

  
"Kurama wait!" Naruto shouted stepping in between his best friend and the fox. Kurama's nine tails had flared up impressively behind him and his teeth were bared, fur bristling and eyes glowing a blood thirsty red. The fox did not move or stop growling. It was obvious the demon was ready to lunge. Sasuke was not intimidated, his Rinnegan only began to glow brighter. Naruto made sure to break the eye contact between the two.

  
"Sasuke, why are you here?" Naruto asked. Sasuke looked at him for a moment. Then moved toward Naruto until he was just a step away. They had been fighting moments ago, Naruto should have been wary but the damage had already been done.

  
" You are dying," Sasuke stated.

  
"No shit teme. What did you think was happening?" Naruto snorted then immediately regretted it. It was like lightning flashed and illuminated Sasuke's soul briefly. Sasuke's face contorted in pain and agony, Naruto could have sworn he heard a scream in the distance. Two bloody fingers trailing down a forehead, chakra scattering into the world like ash and a lifeless body crumpling to the ground. A satisfied smile, a weight lifted off the body's shoulders. Aniki. Relief and relentless heartbreak pounding through a worn heart. It went as quickly as it came. Naruto reached out to offer comfort but Sasuke jerked out of reach like a wounded animal and turned his face away. Naruto could feel the guilt pouring off of his friend. He didn't know what to say. What could he say?

  
"If there was one thing you could do without consequences what would it be?" Sasuke asked softly still not looking at him. Kurama was stopped growling behind them. The blond was confused.

  
"Sasuke what do you mean?"

  
"I said," Sasuke spoke his voice taking on a more imperious tone and oddly enough his own Mangekyou shone -the weirdly inverted red on black-  not the angry red kaleidoscopic Eternal Mangekyou. The darkness around them shifted and suddenly they were standing atop the Hokage Mountain. Naruto gasped at the sudden change.

"If you could do something without consequences, anything, what would it be?"The world shifted again and they were in the Hokage tower, stacks of paper making their own towers on Naruto's desk. A version of Shikamaru was working diligently at his own desk unaware there were others in the room.

  
"How long will this be?" Naruto asked. The scene shifted again and Naruto was outside his house watching his kids play.

  
"As long as you want." Naruto looked at Sasuke trying to gauge what he was saying. The glowing eyes were proving to be distracting. The illusions faded out of existence and they were back in the blank mindscape.

"That is an ambitious offer Uchiha." Kurama said intrigued. Naruto glanced at the fox still clutching at his chest.

"Don't make me repeat myself dobe." Sasuke drew Naruto's attention back.

  
"Anything I want?"

  
"That is what I said."

  
Naruto thought about it for a moment. He could go back to his family, live out his life with them. Hell, he could be the ruler of the world if he asked.

  
"Can I travel with you?"

Sasuke seemed shocked at this but recovered quickly. The illusion shimmered back into existence and now they were standing by the gates of Konoha.

  
"Are you sure?"

  
"Yeah I am dattebayo." You have no idea how much I wanted to see the world with you, Naruto thought with a hint of sadness. No matter what happened, this wouldn't be real. He was dead anyway. He wouldn't live out the rest of his life with illusions for a family.

  
" So, can I come with you this time Sasuke-teme?"Sasuke smirked. And even though Naruto could see a heaviness in his eyes that not even the godly dojutsu could erase, it was good to see a familiar expression on his face.

  
"Usuratonkachi." Sasuke muttered as he started walking. Naruto hurried to catch up.


	2. From here on out

"All I'm saying is that, we're in an illusion, teme. Do we have to travel all the way to wherever you are taking us on foot." Naruto complained for the umpteenth time as they sped through the trees.

"I thought you said you wanted to travel," Sasuke called out ahead of him abruptly coming to a stop. 

"I want to see what you saw, not experience every mind numbing moment," Naruto groused. It had been surprisingly easy to get used to their illusionary world and the fact that Naruto was slowly dying. Naruto couldn't feel himself dying, sometimes he would even forget, but he was sure that nothing had changed on that particular issue. Kurama was unexpectedly quiet, Naruto had expected him to rage against the idea of being stuck in a genjutsu for their final moments. Maybe their situation had hit the demon harder than Naruto had thought?

"I doubt we're even moving. The trees all look the same!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I didn't think you would notice," Sasuke smirked. Another thing Naruto had noticed, Sasuke was more open here. At times, Naruto feared that Sasuke too was an illusion and he had to sense out for Sasuke's chakra to make sure. Though with how elaborate the illusion was, Naruto was certain if Sasuke didn't want him to be able to tell the difference Naruto wouldn't be able to. Every so often, the doubt and instinctual desire to throw of the illusion would build till panic churned Naruto's gut and left an odd sensation like a whine of hysteria echo inside his head. Sasuke could always tell when this would happen. The dark haired man would lighten the weight of the genjutsu around them and amplify his own presence letting Naruto's chakra cling to it and reaffirm Naruto's sense of reality. Their chakras would intertwine intimately until Naruto relaxed. They never spoke of those moments.

"Sasuke-teme." Naruto growled out. Sasuke, the bastard, just ignored him.

"Here is a waterfall called the Sun's Mirror."

"What waterfall?" As Naruto said it, he noticed that the scenery had changed and it was now dawn. As the sun peaked over the horizon, the first rays hit the the waterfall and it began to shine a pale light out into the forest. It was quiet except for the sound of rushing water plummeting into the lake and a whoosh of rising vapour.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Naruto said moving closer to the sight before him. The sun continued its rise and the waterfall continued to get brighter and brighter. The clouds of rising water gave the light a silvery glow that made the whole forest feel like a dream.

"Can we stay here a while, I really like this place." Naruto asked.

"We are staying for the day." Sasuke said making himself comfortable a few paces from the lake. Naruto was glad though he dissented on principle,

"Hey, you aren't the boss of me!" Naruto shouted as he removed his clothes to enter the lake. It may have been an illusion but it was realistic enough that he felt tired from all their running. Naruto felt the eye roll from his friend.

"You are the one who asked if we could stay dobe." The dark haired man said. "Wait for midday, the falls are at their best then."

"What happens at midday?"

"You'll see." Sasuke replied.

"Way to be cryptic, bastard." Naruto bemoaned. Sasuke smirked in response. As the morning crept on the scene got even brighter. The rising vapour became like clouds and vibrant rainbows shone all around. The scene was quite breathtaking and Naruto could not believe that it would get better. It wasn't even noon yet. Sasuke was calm as always, meditating by the waters edge. Sasuke had always been a difficult read; even in the genjutsu where Sasuke was more open than he ad ever been, the dark haired man still held an air of mystery about him. Naruto supposed that mystery would always remain a part of Sasuke and his allure.

As the sun hit it's peak, the scene before Naruto changed drastically. The plume of vapour became a rippling reflection of the world around them. The lake simmered in and out of view.

"What???" Naruto gasped. He dipped his hands into the lake and watched as the ripples moved through the very realistic mirage. He felt Sasuke beside him and saw their reflections standing side by side.

"There is so much reflective light within the plume of vapour it behaves as a reflective surface and for a brief moment during the day, the water gives off a reflective illusion of the forest. The locals refer to it as the Fabrication." Sasuke spoke quietly as they both observed the phenomena.  
  
"It's incredible! How come we've never heard of this place?"

"It's quite far from the borders of the Shinobi Nations. The people here guard this place jealously. They are master's of genjutsu techniques and believe that chakra should never be used for violence. I happened upon them by accident. I'd never seen or heard of genjutsu like theirs before."

"Wow, I've always wanted to hear stories of the stuff you saw in your travels. I'm glad to hear about it finally, it only took me dying for you to open up teme. " Naruto joked patting Sasuke on the back. Naruto regretted it immediately when he saw the stirring of deep emotion within dark orbs like waves crashing against the shore reigned back in a moment later with the ocean tides. Sasuke's presence drew inwards incrementally with those same waves. Naruto felt his own panic rise and flare within his gut and fought valiantly to quash it immediately.

"Please Sasuke, tell me more?" Naruto asked quietly, his hand staying on his friends shoulder. Sasuke turned away.

"The locals have a technique that allows them to manipulate light. Their illusions are more physical rather than mental. They can projected mirages of themselves that they use when hunting. Their village prodigy was said to be able to create projections the size and complexity of an entire forest. They also use light based seals to make their community invisible to outsiders."

"How did you find them?" Naruto asked intrigued.

" The flow of chakra was too organised when I walked into the illusion yet I could tell I was under no mental manipulation. I broke their seal and discovered I wasn't very far from their village. They were welcoming enough and I learnt a few things from them. I promised them to never use their jutsu in combat. Their insight allowed me to create several jutsu of my own."

Naruto let his worries fade as he lept into discussion and banter.

************************************************************************************

"Sasuke, we need to talk about what happened." Naruto pushed. It had been needling at him all this time. He needed some sort of closure before he died and he was certain that Sasuke needed it too. There were moments when Sasuke would look at him and his mask would fall. The raw pain and guilt there was staggering to Naruto. It made his chest heavy with guilt and the strange protective empathy that always existed between them since their genin days.

Everything had been hazy when the Rinnegan Genjutsu had been cast, less an illusion and more an enormous crushing mental weight followed by otherworldly presence in his mind, taunting him in his mental landscape. The kids had not been expecting Naruto to turn on them, the whole village had been thinking the monstrous fox constructions were to protect the village not attack it. Naruto remembered that Sasuke's name had been his last desperate thought as his body had moved to attack his own son.

What had happened to Boruto, to the village? Were they saved before Naruto had caused catastrophic damage?

"What is there is to say?" Sasuke retorted angrily then paused, tensed, then seemed to think better of it and relented.

  
"I did what I did. There's nothing to it." Naruto didn't say anything for a while. Sasuke may have been on an entirely different level when it came to creating jutsu but even he could not have come up with a jutsu so specific to Naruto's healing factor on the spot. They both knew this. 

"You did. I am glad you did, things could have gone really badly if you didn't. I just don't remember it all. Is everyone else ok? Did you stop the Otsutsuki?" Sasuke did not look at him.

"One Otsutsuki member left our dimension when I took you down. The one that cast the genjutsu on you took the brunt of my yin attack, her mind barely survived it and Shikamaru bound her. You didn't hurt Boruto, I got there just before it happened. Are you satisfied?" Sasuke spoke to him in the way he would when he did his reports in the Hokage tower. 

  
Vague, stilted memories flashed through Naruto's mind. He remembered his son disarmed before him defenseless, standing brave and tall. Then the bravado melting away into a look of absolute terror as his father activated a rasenshuriken and threw it at him. Suddenly, it wasn't Boruto standing as the target but Sasuke who somehow managed to grab the rasenshuriken by its centre and fling it back at Naruto. Before Naruto could dodge it he felt the crushing force and blinding brilliance of Kirin pinning him in place. Kurama,using his own chakra, was protecting them from the devastating lightning jutsu. Naruto, still trapped in the genjutsu, felt some vindictive pleasure in feeling the Otsutsuki's confidence waver at the sudden turn of events. She certainly hadn't been expecting Sasuke to launch himself so fully into the fight. Naruto threw another rasenshuriken to counter his first one. The two jutsu collided into each other resulting in a shockwave that ripped through Naruto's clothing and created a large crater around Naruto. 

It was then that Naruto and the other two beings in his body realised their mistake. While focusing on Kirin and the rasenshuriken they had forgotten the true threat. Naruto only had time to turn his head before the blazing sword tore into his lower back right up and out of his chest. A searing pain burning its way through his Sage art, latching onto his chakra and burning away any attempts at regeneration. The physical pain was nothing compared to the train that rushed through the barriers in his mind, Naruto couldn't even scream. The Otsutsuki presence was gone. 

Naruto found his hand absently touching where the wound was supposed to be. The action did not go unnoticed by Sasuke, who was now looking at him again. When their eyes connected again, Sasuke did not look away or waver, resolute in the same way Sasuke had always been when he was tearing out his own heart. Naruto moved to Sasuke and brought their foreheads together, smiling brightly.

This wasn't what Naruto wanted. Far, far, far from it. But he was thankful, so, so thankful that Sasuke had been selfless enough to do what Naruto could never fathom doing. Now he had to make sure Sasuke would survive it. 

"There is no one else I'd rather have with me. It'll be fine, Sasuke. You'll be fine."

"Just because time is moving faster here doesn't change anything out there,Naruto. You are still dying."

"Everything will be fine still." Naruto sighed out enjoying the proximity.

"Idiot." Sasuke sighed out in resignation without moving away. The two were silent for a bit till Sasuke spoke.

"I'm sorry." Sasuke said quietly.

"Don't be. There is nothing to be sorry for, believe it."

"Hn."

"Wait, you said that time was moving faster here. Isn't that dangerous?" Naruto said moving away slightly though his hand was still on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke blinked at him slowly, the special blink that said Naruto was an idiot.

"Yes, well you are dying so I don't see how that is exactly relevant."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and smacked Sasuke on his shoulder lightly.

"I'm talking about you, you bastard! How will this affect you?" Naruto knew Sasuke well enough to know when the Uchiha was feigning nonchalance.

"I'll be fine."

"Sasuke..." Naruto growled.

"It is my choice, I am where I want to be." Sasuke replied, two fingers lightly tapping Naruto's forehead. Naruto paused. 

"What?" Sasuke asked defensively.

"You've never really done that to me before. Sakura told me about it but you've never..." Naruto's flustered rambling was cut short by Sasuke repeating the gesture.

"It'll be fine." Sasuke said with a tiny smile. Naruto felt his chest about to burst with an altogether different emotion than the ones usually he associated with Sasuke. A freeing lightness and fluttering energy like butterflies in his stomach and sparks along his nerves. Contentedness and excitement dancing together in his veins.

"Yeah." Naruto said oddly breathless. "It will be."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've seen in the series one of Sasuke's deadliest talents is his resourcefulness e.g. his strings, the gedo statue technique inversion in the valley of the end fight, his tactis(yes, some of them are plot armor but w/e) and indra's arrow jutsu.
> 
> The jutsu Sasuke created is pretty unique in that he uses the preta path to draw Six Paths Senjutsu and mold both his ameterasu and chidori out of it making the Otsutsuki and Naruto, as a jinchuuruki, particularly vulnerable to it. Sasuke then used the shock of the attack to walk right into Naruto's mind and rain the havoc of an enraged Uchiha on the unprotected and unsuspecting Otsutsuki. The Otsutsuki barely escaped.


	3. It's been hell without you

************************************

They had been trekking for a couple of hours down a rocky ravine. The wind was sharp and cut to the bone. Naruto whined that Sasuke was either being too realistic or making the environment too difficult just to wind Naruto up. Sasuke of course had responded in his usual condescending way, saying that the genjutsu was drawing from his memories and not really a fabrication of his conscious making. Some things were exaggerated or overlooked, like the temperature or the terrain, depending on how Sasuke was feeling at the time he experienced the memory; either way it wasn't something he was too keen on controlling. The genjutsu was far too complex for Sasuke to worry about tiny details like that; it was a collection of different illusionary techniques that gave off an effect similar to a tsukoyomi but a lot less organised.

It had been almost two months of travelling with Sasuke, and Naruto, for the most part, thought he had made peace with his death. It certainly helped that he was finding being with Sasuke more fulfilling than he had anticipated. The two were learning each other in ways they never could before. They talked and shared and even laughed (that was entirely Naruto, Sasuke had at most given him a genuine smile and an aborted half laugh that always ended too soon). Maybe it was their age or the bleak ending that awaited Naruto, but it was easier for them to make space to exist with each other. Naruto understood now that Sasuke needed space more than most people and when respected would allow others to share in his quiet introspection. Naruto had always known that Sasuke was a deep thinker, but the depth he saw now was flooring. Sasuke had given a lot of thought to the nature of ninjutsu and the way it was practiced, in particular the Sharingan and its evolution. The way dark eyes would deepen into inescable pools of wonder and ideas as the man spoke of his favourite topics. Naruto was always intrigued if for no other reason than to watch Sasuke commit himself to what he was talking about and little demonstrations the man would offer to prove his point.

Likewise, Sasuke was much more accommodating to Naruto and his whims. Not just brushing off his tirades about being Hokage but listening and interjecting with meaningful contributions. The attention was embarrassing sometimes and Naruto always tried to speak more intelligently then. They still had their awkward silences, childish bickering and sore spots that they were unable to avoid but all that paled to the moments they shared where all seemed right. That feeling was always followed by the gut wrenching realisation: this wasn't real. It could have been. But it wasn't. It wouldn't be. Terrible. The thought could not be dispelled, no matter how hard Naruto tried. It lurked on the periphery of his conscious mind not allowing for any true peace to be achieved.

"Sasuke this better be worth it, you know how much I hate the cold!"

"And the heat, and the mud, and the swamp and the mountain and food that isn't ramen." Sasuke snarked right back. Sasuke was still scathingly sarcastic but Naruto unfortunately had grown quite fond of that side of Sasuke when the bite behind his words was more non-antagonistic.

"When have I taken you to place that wasn't worth it?"Sasuke continued. Sasuke hadn't yet.

Naruto slipped and caught himself before he hilariously plummeted over the rocky gorge. The rocks further on were now covered by a thin sheen of ice, imperceptible at first glance but the lack of friction and glazed surface were very telling once Naruto knew what to look for.

"Sasuke." Naruto growled out, gingerly trailing after the Uchiha who was still striding confidently forward without a care in the world.

"Naruto." Sasuke replied sounding bored.

"How are you still walking over this death trap like you are strolling through a field of daisies?" Naruto shouted. The dark haired man turned back to Naruto and smirked.

" I'm a competent ninja."

Naruto growled. Arrogant bastard. Naruto was about to spit out an outraged reply of his own when Sasuke stopped him.

"Relax. We are here dobe, come see." Naruto dramatically huffed and puffed his way to Sasuke's side. The rocky terrain came to an abrupt end with a sharp drop onto a vast expanse of what could only be described as a jungle of pure ice. Ice, rose like trees from the icy floor and intertwined into some humongous parody of a forest canopy. Upon closer examination, Naruto saw that the ice mass was moving slowly like icebergs drifting in an ocean.

Beautiful wasn't the word Naruto would have used to describe this place. It felt foreboding and malicious even from this distance. The ice seemed too solid, too intentionally intimidating. Too planned.Naruto could feel his guard spring up. It would be easy to get lost in that place. The scene did not feel natural and Naruto said as much.

"You are right. This place was constructed by Kaguya when she first arrived in our dimension I think. The construct is large enough to create  a microclimate that is self sustaining. The temple inside is where I found my first traces of Kaguya's dimensions and her experiments." Sasuke said as he surveyed the landscape. The wind whipped about them creating a permanent blush on Sasuke's cheeks.

"I didn't think you would show me the serious stuff teme!" Naruto said excited. Sasuke smirked at Naruto's enthusiasm. Dropping on to the ice below, Sasuke made his way towards the frozen fortress. Naruto once again found the surface far more perilous than Sasuke was letting on. This time however his enthusiasm was far greater than the inconvenience so Naruto kept his mouth shut on that particular matter.

"You asked me to travel with me so I'm going to show you the places that made it worthwhile -- that includes milestones in my missions regarding the Otsutsuki." Sasuke had slowed down to allow Naruto to walk at a pace where he would not fall. Naruto smiled gratefully.

"Why did you never tell me all this stuff before?" Naruto asked.

"It was not important at the time."

"What do you mean it wasn't important? It's your life bastard, of course it's important. Do you have any idea how often I wondered if you were happy or safe?" Naruto said outraged. Sasuke remained unaffected by Naruto's tirade, in fact Sasuke seemed bored.

"You don't need to worry loser, I can take care of myself. I wouldn't do something if it wasn't what I wanted."Sasuke said dismissively.

"That's not point!" Naruto shouted.

"Would telling you all I was doing have made you stop worrying?" Sasuke asked his tone matching the frigid air around them. The man was defensive now. This issue had been a bone of contention between Sasuke and his family. There was a beat of silence.

"No, but it would have been better." Naruto shot back. Sasuke stopped moving. The type of stillness, Naruto had long come to associate with a fight from Sasuke.

"Have you ever bothered to ask why I did things the way I did or did you just assume I couldn't be bothered?" The question stopped Naruto in his tracks. He had never really asked why just raged at the injustice of it all --even though he had been aware that some fault lay with himself. Sasuke gave a cold empty laugh.

"You understand nothing of dimensional travel or how difficult it is: how dangerous it is.You understand nothing of why i gave up contact--i may have been wrong, then again, when am i not. I was alone with absolutely nothing else to rely on but me. Yet You make your demands and pass your judgements. After all, what else matters except the opinion of the savior of the world?" Sasuke started walking again. Naruto felt cold but not from the weather. Sasuke's words were reminiscent of the first time they fought. Naruto struggling to understand why things were the way they were because he could not see things from Sasuke's point of view. Frustration and anger bubbled within Naruto but he kept quiet. When Sasuke first brought up the idea of leaving to travel dimensions, Naruto had offered even though that had been a bad idea. He was Hokage, he couldn't have left the dimension for that long. The mission was a secret even from the elders so Sasuke could not have been seen in Konoha without arousing suspicion of something afoot. It was easy for most people to assume that Sasuke was just avoiding Konoha.

The two walked silently through the icy maze for the better part of an hour Naruto guessed. The silence was oppressive. It did not help that the temperature continued to drop steadily. There were traps too, Sasuke pointed out. Soon they arrived at the ice palace. It did not hold much within it except labs and manuscripts lying all over the place. Naruto picked up one manuscript and squinted at the writing.

"Hey, is this in code. I can't make out what it says." Naruto asked then immediately regretted it. He hadn't wanted to break the deadlock between them yet. Sasuke did not look at him when he answered.

"We're in a dream dobe. Of course you can't read it. Act like your giving the script a passing glance, that should give you an idea of what the manuscript is about." Naruto looked at him skeptically before giving it try. Naruto did not expect anything to happen yet he found it strange when several words swam into focus as he gave the script a cursory glance.

"This is weird." Naruto said. He knew there were words there yet they were incomprehensible. Even the ones that were in focus couldn't be read, rather the idea of the word was what sprang to mind. The word would resound within him in such a way he was almost convinced he had read it.

"This one is about space-time jutsu." The space between grew awkward again.

"Sasuke... I don't want to fight." Naruto spoke gently. Sasuke did not relax but he did pay attention.

"I know that I have trouble looking for the deeper meaning behind things. I've always been a what you see is what you get kinda guy. I want to understand you, share experiences with you. I've always.. just wanted to be... with you." Sasuke eyes bore into Naruto, making him feel too vulnerable for his liking.

"Why?"

"Because... it's you." Sasuke rolled his eyes good naturedly or at least his version of good naturedly at Naruto.

"What, the laws of the universe never seem not to apply to you." Naruto snarled. The antagonistic air between had faded now.

"How?!?"

"No person should be able to sidestep the laws of motion as you do." Naruto said with disdain. Sasuke looked at him with his usual condescension.

"I don't sidestep the laws of physics, thank you very much. You are just slow and clumsy."

"Heh! I'm the fastest thing apart from you--"

"And yet still so slow." Sasuke tutted.

"Shut up bastard! I'm the fastest thing apart from you. I have a kyuubi inside me. What's your excuse?" Sasuke smirked slowly, a predatory grin.

"Don't you dare say it!" Naruto warned.

"Say What?" Sasuke said moving closer and staring Naruto in the eye. The thing between them stirred, Naruto felt the pull in his gut. "That I'm just that good."

Naruto growled and pushed Sasuke away. Sasuke gave his weird aborted laugh and Naruto knew things were okay between them again.

************************************

Naruto came out of dark thoughts to a hand gripping his shoulder so tightly he could have sworn there would be hand shaped dents on his collar bone.

"Naruto! What's wrong?" Naruto did not have time to answer as he saw the Mangekyou and Rinnegan burst into being. Sasuke seemed to fading in and out of existence.

"Kurama! We had more time!" Sasuke's voice was tight and littered with a tinge of desperation. That brought Naruto to almost full attention.

"Sasuke, I'm fine."

"His rate of deterioration has not changed. The brat will be fine, he has been through this before." Kurama disembodied voice boomed from nowhere. Where was Kurama? Sasuke relaxed somewhat and Naruto gave him his best smile. The dojutsu gave way to a soulful black but the grim look on Sasuke's face did not fade.

"Wipe that fake smile off your face, Uzumaki. What's going on?" Naruto grimaced a bit.

"Nothing is wrong teme." Naruto repeated looking away. Naruto could feel Sasuke bristling from where he was. Sasuke came to sit next to him. Naruto did not remember sitting down.

"Do you miss your family?" Sasuke asked quietly. Naruto flinched at the question. They had been in the genjutsu for three months now.

"Naruto-kun!" He heard Hinata call out to him. He could hear Himawari giggling and Boruto call out to him in his squeaky teenage voice. They were in his garden and his family was calling him inside to his house. Naruto turned away from them shutting his eyes tight. He felt his facade fall, a heavy exhaustion overtook him that he had been forcing back by sheer will.

"Sasuke, please don't. I know you mean well but no matter what, they are still illusions and--" the sounds of his family cut out abruptly behind him. Naruto opened his eyes to find them now at a beach. It seemed to stretch for miles and miles: fine beach sand meeting lapping foamy ocean water. Only a bright full moon floated above in the dark sky. No stars, no clouds. No sight for miles and leagues.

"I'm never going to see them again. I always thought I'd at least see my kids grow up. I don't want to die damn it!" His voice cracking, Naruto collapsed on to his knees. He could feel a gentle warmth behind his eyelids. The emotion roiled within, churned like a tempest crashing against a hapless ship. Only Naruto was the ship and he was sinking. The fight was draining from him, leaving him lethargic once more. Maybe if he lied down...

There was a soft thud in front of him and Sasuke's arm went around him and pulled him in. Sasuke smelt of endless travels and the air after a thunderstorm. Of long windy roads and open skies. Sasuke was a port in the storm.Naruto clung on.

After a while, Naruto pulled away regretfully not quite meeting Sasuke's face.

"Ah, sorry. I got carried away." Sasuke did not respond at first, slowly unwinding his arm then stopping at the nape of Naruto's neck.

"What did Kurama mean?" Sasuke asked softly. Naruto felt himself tense.

"Look can we just drop it ok? I don't ask you about your issues with Itachi so just leave me alone." Naruto pushed away from him, kicking up sand in his rush to stand up. The anger and defensiveness sprung up from seemingly nowhere, hot and furious. Sasuke had no right to ask those questions. No right!

"What does this have to do with my brother?" Sasuke grit out. Naruto was silent and geared himself up for a fight. Sasuke shifted to sit down more comfortably in the sand.

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting."

"I'm not going to talk just because you decided to wait me out, teme." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to talk loser. I'm gonna wait till you feel better."

"And if I don't." Naruto challenged.

"I'll still be here." Sasuke monotone seemingly disinterested in the conversation. Naruto was thrown off. He had expected badgering or a fight. For a moment, he suspected mentioning Itachi might have been a step too far. It usually was with Sasuke.

"Make yourself useful and entertain me." Naruto said dramatically throwing himself onto Sasuke to get a rise out of him. He desperately wanted the atmosphere to change and for them to forget this had ever happened. Naruto would be better. He would be happier. Sasuke would never see this side of him again. It's not like Naruto was going to be alive for much longer. How much longer would this genjutsu last?

Sasuke tried to shrug him off but Naruto held on. Too quickly, Sasuke gave up on that as well.

"Sasuke," Naruto drew out his name in a long whine. Sasuke sighed almost inaudibly.

"Sasuke." Naruto said seriously now.

"Naruto, you are being difficult. Say what you want already so we can move on."

"I want to be fine, not so sad and tired I can barely function alright! I want to be strong but I can't. I just... can't."

"This has happened before?"

"Yeah, sometimes." Naruto replied in a dull tone. Sasuke arched his eyebrow and Naruto could tell the other man knew that sometimes was an understatement. Still, he didn't mention it.

"Does anyone help you at these times, Hinata or Shikamaru?"

"I've never told anyone about it. Why would I?"

I'm the hero. I'm not supposed to be sad, Naruto thought quietly.

"You should know by now that no one is perfect and no one expects you to be." Sasuke said not unkindly but not sympathetic either.

Naruto scoffed at the statement internally. Sasuke wasn't there when Naruto finally got any sense of acknowledgment from the village and even then it was only because he was of use. Their first line of defense. There as an acceptable sacrifice. Naruto had gripped tightly onto the acknowledgement. He'd been ready to die for it. The paranoia that people would abandon him and consider him worthless still plagued him even though it was now more of an unconscious fear.

In the past, whenever Naruto found himself like this he would send his clones out and lock himself away. However, there were times when even his clones would have it and he was stuck alone, his work piling up into impossible amounts. If Naruto had had his way he would have taken this secret to the grave. He almost had. He felt better though, having that secret out there. 

"Naruto," Sasuke spoke in halting tones with a hesitation that was uncharacteristic of him, " I'm not good at this. Talking ...or feelings but I'm here. For you."

Naruto snickered and Sasuke looked away with a quiet huff. Sure Naruto may have been sad but Sasuke attempting to be outwardly empathetic and caring was beyond ridiculous.

"You're doing great teme." Naruto teased butting his head against Sasuke's shoulder. The lethargy was creeping up on him again very quickly. The urge to lie down and never get up getting so strong Naruto's limbs felt sluggish. Naruto realised he wanted the contact desperately but was unsure of how to ask for it. Sasuke gave Naruto a skeptical look at that statement and then an inquisitive one  at the head butt. Naruto felt himself blush.

"Use your words Dobe."

Naruto, ever being head strong, decided to dive in for a hug-- propriety be damned. The impact knocked the air of out Sasuke's lungs and the older man grumbled as he adjusted.Naruto hid his even brighter red face in Sasuke's shoulder.

"Words." Sasuke said in a quiet long suffering drawl. Sasuke didn't push him away.

"Shut up teme."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway this chapter was hard to write because the two characters have a way diverting each other from my plot. For example, at first I thought that I would do detailed explanations of Sasuke and his travelling reasoning. Then I thought that I would have Naruto explain his sort of depressive episodes but nah.. apparently not.
> 
> Wish of A Dying Man is the first act in 3 or 5 acts. Each of the first three acts will feature Naruto's POV first then Sasuke's POV. Each POV will be 10 chapters long i think plus or minus two.
> 
> Thank you for the comments. I'm having trouble responding to them because I'm really trying not to spoil things. After the next chapter though I think it will be easier to respond to them.


	4. To believe

  
Sasuke had been secretive for the last month and Naruto had just about had enough. It was an insult that Sasuke thought Naruto would not notice Sasuke disappearing into thin air at odd hours during the night. Especially considering they were the only people in this reality. The first time it had happened, Naruto had been inconsolable. Shock and blind terror had kept him from doing much until Sasuke had returned much to his relief.When asked about it, Sasuke had said he couldn't sleep brushing aside Naruto's concern with his usual disinterest.

It wasn't a lie. It wasn't the whole truth either, of that Naruto was sure.

Naruto was aware that being in such close proximity to another being for extended periods of without anyone else as a buffer was tough. That was without factoring in that Sasuke was accustomed to twelve years of solitude. Maybe Naruto was that hard to deal with? Maybe Sasuke was having a hard time dealing with the reality of their situation? Whatever it was, it was serious and Naruto wanted to help.

Maybe Sasuke was tired of the genjutsu and wanted to go back? Maybe Sasuke was already going back to live out there and occasionally checking in on Naruto?

The idea made Naruto queasy, anxious and angry. Naruto was confident that Sasuke wouldn't leave him without so much as a goodbye. Sasuke wouldn't leave him.But , a month. A month of wondering weathered his confidence and fed his worry. The confrontation was inevitable. That Naruto lasted a month was nothing short of incredible.

"Sasuke, what is going on? Where have you been disappearing every night?" The question burst out of Naruto one evening by the fire. The reflection of flames danced within Sasuke's eye making them mesmerising and indecipherable. The slight pause before Sasuke answered was very telling.

"It's... nothing you should be concerned about." Sasuke deflected.

"I am worried! You keep disappearing and are distracted wherever we go." Naruto said with raised eyebrows. Sasuke stared at him impassively. Naruto sighed before continuing,

"Look, I understand if you need space or if you are tired... and you need to--" Naruto stalled for a second gathering the courage to continue. He hadn't quite realised how afraid he was that it may be true.

"If you need to go back to the real world. I understand. I would just like to know." Sasuke had a slightly puzzled look on his face.

"Need to go back? Dobe, I can't go back."

"What do you mean you can't go back. What's going to happen to you once I die?" Naruto asked slightly alarmed. Displeasure spread across Sasuke's face like wildfire at the last word. Naruto wasn't perturbed by the idea anymore. It was the truth.

"I can't go back Dobe because time here moves differently. A few seconds out there could be months or years. I don't even think my mind would accept such drastic changes repeatedly as you are suggesting, idiot." Sasuke said sounding thoroughly put out by the idea. He looked at Naruto with a serious expression and spoke his next words with deliberate intent.

"I don't need nor do I want to go back. Got it?" Naruto could not help the tiny smile or the warmth that spread in his chest. Sasuke rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"Is that what this is about?"

"No." Naruto said seriously bringing himself back to the matter at hand. While it relieved him to know Sasuke wasn't fed up with him yet, there was still the worry issue of why Sasuke kept disappearing. More so now that Naruto's worst fear had been dismissed, he had no idea what was going on. "Sasuke what is going and why aren't you being straight forward about it. I want to be there for you as much as you've been there for me. I am still worried. The situation we are in," Naruto decided to put it diplomatically, "Is not...the best."

Sasuke snorted rudely.

"So...what's going on?" Naruto ended bumping shoulders with Sasuke for good measure. Sasuke did not react to the bump. Sasuke's face was turned towards Naruto; one half of his face was fire light and shadow, an eye flickering orange and the other moon light and darkness with it's eye sparkling silver. Sasuke looked at Naruto so intensely, Naruto could feel the words as they rose within Sasuke.

"Hn. Fine." The increase in brightness and fading warmth of the fire were the first clues to a change in enviroment. A single light bulb on the ceiling lit up the entire room. It was easy to see that the room was made for a single person and clearly not based off anything real. After all, the room had no door or windows.

Papers were on the table and the walls, pinned up neatly and diligently. The scribbles on them however, were rushed and almost illegible with many paragraphs and diagrams crossed out violently. Even if they had been in the real world, Naruto doubted he would have been able read it. Naruto could make out that the writing pertained to some series of jutsu, highly complex stuff bleeding into each other towards some grand balancing act. Naruto felt even more confused.

"So you are working on a jutsu?" Sasuke nodded.

"Okay. So why didn't you want to share this? I'm always interested in whatever you are working on teme!" Naruto said with a strained smile. He could feel that this wasn't all it was and the ignorance was gnawing at him. Sasuke was reluctant to answer.

"I've been working on a way to save you." Sasuke said looking Naruto dead in the eye.

It should have surprised Naruto. It should. Instead it felt more like the dizzying, apprehensive realisation of just how high you were when you approached a cliff's edge.

"Kurama couldn't even heal me." Naruto said dumbly trying to process what he felt. He didn't quite felt numb. The room suddenly had a startlingly different vibe. The scribbles now looked like the illegible ramblings of a mad man. The discarded papers on the floor screamed of desperation. The room felt tiny and claustrophobic. A wellspring of emotion sprouted within Naruto that he tried valiantly to quash. The inner conflict within him created a heat that coiled in Naruto's gut. 

"The jutsu I used was designed to impede attempts at healing but with the right.."

"Sasuke, there is no need to try... It's ok. I've made my peace with it." Naruto step forward to reach out but Sasuke pushed his hand away with narrowed eyes.

"What do you mean there is no need to try?" Sasuke asked his voice taking a more aggressive timbre.

"You are many things Sasuke, a healer isn't one if them. You can't." Naruto shrugged. 

"No, I am not a healer but I can keep you alive long enough for a healer to find you and help."

"How? Between the battle out there, our fight and this genjutsu, not to mention you teleporting everywhere, how much chakra do you have left?" Naruto gave a hollow laugh. He wasn't sure why he was so against the idea. The words wouldn't come but he could feel his vehemence at the thought crawling under his skin. Naruto shouldn't have asked. It was better not knowing.

"Enough." Sasuke said stubbornly.

"If your plan was so good then why didn't you tell me when we first arrived?" Naruto bit back.

"Because I didn't have a plan then. I knew I would be grasping at straws! I was not about to give you false hope, not when things were so bleak.Now I have a plan." Sasuke shouted.

"Well, it's clearly not good enough!" Naruto shouted back. The tension in the room was thick and palpable: more reminiscent of their time outside the genjutsu than anything else they had experienced so far while in the illusion. As adults, the two had considerably less conflicts though that was easily attributed to them trying to make good of the little time they got to spend together than them actually fully agreeing on anything. In the genjutsu, Naruto learned and loved what it was to exist in harmony with Sasuke. Now the memory of such a sentiment was fast fading.

"You don't even know what the plan is." Sasuke growled out. Sasuke's body had tensed up ready to lash out. Naruto could feel his own fists clench painfully.

"Knowing you it's halfway to suicidal at least!" Naruto shouted back. Sasuke stalked towards Naruto, ire smouldering and billowing off him like a second cloak. A fight between them was imminent and Naruto was far past the point of caring.

"I'm not the one who is eager to die." Sasuke growled out.

"For once! Isn't that a fucking surprise teme!" Naruto brought himself into Sasuke space. The energy between them was all wrong.Naruto felt overtaken with it still, caught in the sphere of whatever it was between them.

"You of all people should understand teme! I am leaving." Naruto continued, drawing his chakra towards himself and reaching for the real world only to have something forcefully draw it out of his grasp and drag him back down. The world darkened and they were back in Naruto's mental landscape. The weight of the genjutsu increased until it felt almost physical in its intensity, pining Naruto in place and ripping an sense of control Naruto thought he may have had. 

"Don't be stupid, Naruto. Challenging me here will get you nowhere." Sasuke's presence overshadowed everything else somehow painting their dark world even darker.

"So What? You are just gonna keep me trapped here!"

"Do you want to die?" Sasuke asked flatly, Rinnegan and Sharingan glowing unnaturally in the darkness.

"Would you even let me die, bastard!" Sasuke's face fell and his bangs blocked his face from view. Naruto could see Sasuke clench his fist so tightly it began to shake.

"I will not force you into an existence that you despise. So if you want to...then yes...i will let you...die." The pressure of the genjutsu eased and Naruto found himself at a loss.

Naruto often forgot that this desperate thing between them was very, very mutual. Where Naruto had trouble restraining himself when Sasuke was involved, Sasuke always seemed to function fine. At least outwardly.

The storm brewing between them had passed, leaving Naruto feeling awkward and oddly guilty. Sometimes, Sasuke and Naruto spoke entirely different languages to each other even when they were saying the same thing.

"You of all people should understand what it is to not want to hope." Naruto said quietly. His voice carried endlessly throughout the void. There was a thin smile that peeked through Sasuke's bangs.

"And what it is to find yourself hoping still." Sasuke finished. Sasuke's hand was still clenched at his side, shaking slightly with emotion.

"You of all people should understand how far I'll go to save you." Sasuke spat out tiredly.

"Why?" The question was out before Naruto thought twice.

"Why?" Sasuke echoed back with a bitter chuckle finally facing Naruto full on. His hair partially obscured his face and the old pain that Naruto thought long gone was plain to see. The anguish and fear riddled with a deep sense of duty and determination swirled in Sasuke's eyes.

"Because I love you, you fucking moron. So don't ask me to just stand by and watch you slip through my fingers." Sasuke said still chuckling mirthlessly and looking away. Sasuke's heart was laid bare for Naruto to see. It floored Naruto that Sasuke would crush his own heart to let Naruto be. That had always been Sasuke's way hadn't it? He would offer up his heart just to let those he cared for breathe: Even when Sasuke knew the outcome would never be in his favour. Was that what love was to Sasuke?

Such tenderness wounded Naruto.*

Naruto closed the distance between them, mind already made, hugging Sasuke tightly, bruisingly, unrelenting and unwilling to let go.

"I won't. I promise, I won't." Naruto said fervently.

And with that Naruto had set his course. It wasn't hard to put his faith in Sasuke. Even when he had been captured by Momoshinki and taken to gods only knew which dimension. If Momoshinki hadn't absorbed the others Otsutsuki's chakra, Naruto could have probably taken them both eventually. But it would have been at great personal cost, Naruto would have been unable to get home and left with very little to keep himself alive. Naruto had hoped then that Sasuke would find him in time, in fact, Naruto had been confident.

Naruto hadn't even doubted.

It felt like most of his energy had been spent keeping himself from hoping because what was there to believe in. Even now, there wasn't much except Sasuke grasping at straws. It was enough though. It was enough.

Letting himself hope made Naruto relieved. Naruto found himself chuckling in their embrace. Sasuke didn't relax but he didn't move away either so Naruto counted that as a win.

"I won't." Naruto repeated pulling Sasuke's hair out of his face. The dojutsu had faded again leaving dark eyes.

Oh, Naruto thought, their a really deep brown. Ebony.

"Naruto?" Sasuke brought him out of his lingering thoughts.

"Where are we going to next?" Naruto spoke cheerfully as he moved away. Sasuke's eyes followed him.

"What?"

"Well, where are we going next? You still need time to finish your plan right? So where are we going?" Sasuke blinked at Naruto slowly as if dazed. It was cute.

"Just like that?" Sasuke asked disbelievingly. Naruto smiled, his smile felt bigger than it had been in a long while.

"C'mon teme, I never go back on my word! I trust you.Whatever happens, I wanna keep enjoying this! Unless you've run out of places already." Naruto felt like a new man, eager and ready to explore. Sasuke was still suffering from whiplash but quickly warming up to the idea if the slight quirk of his lips was anything to go by.

Naruto threw an arm around Sasuke's shoulders and for once the other didn't complain.

"Sasuke," Naruto prodded. "This vast emptiness isn't exciting!"

"Dobe, you realise that this 'vast emptiness' is your mind right?" Sasuke's tone was taking a while to thaw out it seemed. Naruto paused and looked shrewdly at him.  
  
"Is that supposed to be a dig at my intelligence?" Naruto asked mildly offended.

"I'm not the one who called it a vast emptiness." Sasuke replied mockingly.

"Bastard." Naruto muttered without heat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so there it is! Naruto isn't dying! But at what cost? As stated, Sasuke ain't a healer in any form so exactly what is he planning. 
> 
> Initially, this was supposed to be two scenes but this scene ended up having too many emotions in it. I wanted to let people know that I wasn't planning on killing off Naruto but I honestly thought this would be a better way to illustrate what Naruto was feeling. He was dying, there was no hope but he still found himself hoping he'd somehow survive anyway and that was slowly destroying him. When Sasuke said he might be able to think of something, Naruto first reaction is No!Yes!No! Hence conflict.  
> Sasuke's negative emotions speak louder to Naruto cause he's used to those. So you find him noticing more when Sasuke is experiencing those.
> 
> If you guys have questions about characterisations or whatever please ask. I enjoy a good meta discussion. If I don't answer know that it is because that would ruin the plot. Please comment or whatever.
> 
> The asterisk symbol is me making sure I remember to credit where the particular inspiration for that sentence. It's from a yaoi/BL manga/anime called Junjou Romantica. That's all I remember.
> 
> P.S. writing from one POV consistently is amazing cause I don't have to explain Sasuke's rationale constantly (which probably sucks for you lol)


	5. It is time

 "This can't be real!" Naruto gasped out loud.

The view was spectacular. Nothing in his wildest dreams could have compared to this and still made sense. Little islands were suspended in the vastness of space and the stars. Some islands were teeming with life and greenery and others barren bare rock. The islands existed in clusters to form a tiny nebula of different sized worlds. Like a massive archipelago plucked right out of the ocean and cast carelessly into the beyond to find its own balance.

"It's like the land of lightning and hidden mist but...bigger and in the sky!" Naruto exclaimed in awe.

"Sasuke, if there are dimensions like this, you could have been taking a vacation all this time and we wouldn't know!" Naruto thought it was insane, how startling different this place was from their own dimension. Naruto had been to his fair share of alternate realities and  they all tended to resemble his own but this one was in a league of its own. This one threw all the laws that Naruto build his reality on out of the window. Sasuke gave him an unimpressed look at his remark.

"I am not so desperate as to need to leave a dimension just for some peace of mind, usuratonkachi. Besides," Sasuke's voice went from a mocking monotone to a more serious timbre.

"This world was once like ours: a planet."  Naruto paused.

"What? What happened?"

"The Otsutsuki happened." Naruto looked at the view before him with a new sense of dread. Sasuke's tone hadn't changed still and Naruto could tell the other wasn't done speaking.

"According to the locals, about three millenia ago, the Otsutsuki arrived in this dimension planning on taking the world's chakra. The people here were remarkably advanced and arrogant. Arrogant and powerful enough for resistance. They fought off the invaders until the Otsutsuki were desperate enough to try a full scale invasion of this dimension." Here Sasuke paused to look at him for confirmation that Naruto was following the story. Sasuke's voice had always been a lower volume than Naruto's and years of travels alone had left it with an odd unchanging quality to it. Naruto was very attentive even if he wasn't grasping the full implications of the story just yet.

"The space-time jutsu used by Otsutsuki to travel through dimensions creates tears through the dimensions on both ends. The tears are generally inconsequential as space-time repairs itself quickly. However, the influx of all those sudden rips in the across essentially the same event horizon caused a cataclysmic backlash that distorted space-time in its effort to retain balance. In the time aspect the pieces of the planet act as if there are still together hence why they retain an atmosphere and are under similar gravitational forces despite the variance in sizes. In space though, this is what you see." Sasuke said gesturing to the broken planet. It was beautiful but broken. Naruto digested the information, he remembered something like this in one of the reports Sasuke had sent.

"You spoke about this in your report on why we never had to expect dealing with a group of more than five Otsutsuki members at once." Naruto said. Sasuke gave him an impressed look.

"Don't look at me like that, bastard. I read." Naruto muttered self-consciously. Sasuke's reports were a double edged sword. On one hand, Naruto loved them. Reading Sasuke's adventures and discourse so intently sometimes Naruto could almost hear the bastards voice as if the words were spoken. Shikamaru had reprimanded him many times for running an annoying commentary on Sasuke's report until Shikamaru's own curiosity got the better of him and he would join in just to avoid the monotony of playing politics and paperwork. However, Naruto would miss Sasuke and worry even more when he could tell that Sasuke was leaving out the challenges he saw in his reports. Sasuke would hint at monsters and abominations sealed away by other civilisations or waiting in a tiny pocket dimension for a lone straggler like Sasuke. Naruto had sensed Sasuke's chakra flare dangerously a couple times when Sasuke was out of their dimension and waited on alert casting his senses as far as he could to ensure that he was certain that Sasuke was alive. Sometimes, Sasuke wandered so far that Naruto could not sense him anymore. Those were the worst.

"Yes. Space-time here is so fragile that anymore travelling by the Otsutsuki could destroy both realities on either end. The Otsutsuki lost many people during the cataclysm trying to contain the damage. I doubt they would try something similar again."

"Couldn't they just improve their dimension travelling technique?"

"They could. But they aren't foolish enough to try test it out. The consequences of failure are far too high. Also, the thing with ageless beings like them is they see little reason in putting effort into anything when so much comes so easily to them." Naruto remembered Momoshinki scoffing at the amount to training humans had to go through to acquire their abilities.

"Wait. If space-time is so fragile, how were you able to get here?" Naruto asked.

"The jutsu I use doesn't rip apart reality like theirs does, it...bends it in a sense." Sasuke struggled for words a bit before sighing.

"The differences aren't important and we aren't here to discuss history and the Otsutsuki. Come with me." Sasuke walked to the edge of the island they were on and stepped off it. Naruto had expected Sasuke to float or fall somewhere not to simply vanish from existence - though considering Sasuke could teleport, Naruto should not have been that shocked. Naruro's jaw dropped.

"Dobe, hurry up " Sasuke's head peeked back into existence. The smirk on Sasuke's face told Naruto that Sasuke was thoroughly enjoying watching Naruto struggle to process what happened. Naruto approached the edge gingerly and stuck his hand through. It disappeared. Naruto could still feel his hand as if it were right in from of him. He wiggled the fingers of his invisible hand a bit. There was no difference, it felt as if his had was right there!

Naruto felt a hand grab his and tug strongly enough to pull him over the edge. Naruto squawked as he fell over into an ungraceful heap on the other side. Sasuke looked on with a light of laughter dancing across his face. Naruto found it difficult to begrudge him anything when his face was like that. It was so rare to have Sasuke relaxed enough to act childishly even when it was usually at Naruto's expense. Sasuke held out his hand to help Naruto up.

"What the hell bastard?" Naruto grumbled. Sasuke didn't reply as he helped him up. There was a moment once they were both standing where the pull between was so strong both men were left rooted in place. Naruto knew he could be obtuse sometimes but even he could notice the shift in things between them. His affection for Sasuke had grown more prominent and risen closer to the surface, sometimes so palpable the affection was itching under his skin. That was what physical displays of affection were for,Naruto concluded. Naruto's touches were less casual and deliberate these days, trying to convey what words could not. Sasuke, aside from a few curious looks and some touches of his own, hadn't been complaining either; so all was good in Naruto's books.

"You were taking too long." Sasuke replied as he took a step back and the light dancing in his eyes retreated again.

"Remember that despite appearances the planet is still intact."

"So, the island thing is just an illusion?"

"No it isn't. Both states of reality exist: islands with the ecology pre-cataclysm, and an intact planet with the environment post-cataclysm in the same space-time. It depends on how you approach the incidence points on the boundary of the space-time distortions." Sasuke's eyes were deepening with the passion in his words and his voice losing its imperious tone. Naruto smiled fondly as Sasuke rambled on.

"You have no interest in what I'm saying do you?" Sasuke asked flatly.

"No." Naruto answered honestly. "But it's nice to hear you, the ever cool Uchiha, so passionate about things."

"I'm passionate about a lot things."

"I know. It's fun to hear you talk about them." Sasuke blushed and turned away slightly.

"Idiot,"Sasuke muttered. Naruto chuckled and bumped shoulders with Sasuke. The contact allayed the urge to be closer for a time.

"It's not my fault you're a giant nerd and like... like nerdy things!" Naruto finished lamely. Sasuke rolled his eyes in fond exasperation and started walking. They came to a field that was divided into two. On one side, time was accelerated and the field cycled through seasons very quickly. Naruto could see a flower grow, bloom, perish and be forgotten all in a matter of minutes. The other side was the exact opposite, everything was an inky black and unchanging. Birds doused in black, frozen mid-flight and a leaf left hanging in the air falling from a tree.

"The field is black there because once light hits the surface of an object, time stops and nothing is ever reflected into our eyes."

"Cool!" Naruto gasped. The blackness had varying intensities Naruto noticed. It wasn't a dark foreboding darkness but a soft accompanying shadow that encompassed everything.

"Can we go in?" Naruto asked. Sasuke gave him a lopsided smile.

"In the real world no. Your life would pass by in a matter of minutes or you'd be stuck in darkness for all eternity. But this is just an illusion so yes." Sasuke picked up a rock beyond the time distorted fields and threw it into the dark field. The rock stopped midair and became covered in darkness.

"Let's go!" Naruto said grabbing Sasuke and pushing him to the field with light.

"I didn't say I want to go." Sasuke grumbled.

"Well tough luck! We are going to have some fun, believe it!" Naruto laughed out. Sasuke didn't put up much resistance.

************************************

"I've come up with a plan to keep you alive." Sasuke said abruptly halting Naruto's aimless floating in the lake. Naruto lifted his head slightly to look at Sasuke sitting by the edge of the lake head slightly bowed to hide his face behind his bangs.

It was going to be that type of conversation then, Naruto thought. As he swam to the waters edge, Naruto could already feel some of Sasuke's tension affecting him. Naruto sat by Sasuke, his knees drawn to his chest and his arms resting lazily on top.

"That's good isn't it?" Naruto said butting shoulders with Sasuke.

"What are changes of success?" Naruto asked.

"High enough for me to take." Sasuke replied. Naruto frowned at that.

"Sasuke, you'd take the chance even if there was no chance." Sasuke leveled Naruto a cool look. His face was determined and set.

"You wouldn't?" Sasuke challenged. Naruto paused a bit at that.

"I can't ask you to do that. The world out there needs you." Naruto pointed out. He had promised that he wouldn't ask Sasuke to let him die and Naruto wasn't about to break that promise; he knew now just how damaging such an act would be to Sasuke. Sasuke looked at him seriously.

"The world needs you more than it needs me, Naruto, and you know it." Sasuke said tacitly.

"Sasuke," Naruto said distressed. He didn't want to lose Sasuke but Naruto knew he had very little leverage. There was nothing else he could do except beg. Desperately. Naruto tried to imagine returning to the real world without Sasuke. The horror and impossibility of it weighed down upon him yet, Naruto knew he would do it if Sasuke asked. It would kill him. If Sasuke asked him, he would do it. Gods it would kill him but he would do it.

If Sasuke asked.

Naruto couldn't think of anything else to say except Sasuke's name. It came out shrill and teetering on the edge of hysteria despite Naruto speaking quietly. Naruto felt a blinding panic whitening out the edges of his vision with a static noise that steadily built in intensity. Liquid heat began to gather in Naruto's eyes.

Sasuke's hand touched his cheek and Naruto heard his voice faded in and out as if under water. It all felt distant and the sensations were muddied.

For Naruto, the decision to kiss Sasuke then was obvious. It was a fast, bruising and desperate kiss; full of intent and all the things Naruto still found himself unable to say in words.

I need you by my side. Always have and always will. Please. Please, don't let me walk this alone. Together or not at all.

There was a deafening silence when the kiss ended. Naruto felt his senses sharpen to a degree that should not have been possible outside of his Six Paths Sage Mode. Sasuke's stare was hard to read. Naruto looked away. He felt bare and exposed.

Naruto fought down the urge to flinch when Sasuke touched his cheek again. Sasuke gently turned Naruto's head then Naruto felt lips gently touch his. The kiss was longer, deeper, more sedate but no less meaningful or intense. Sasuke was deliberate, measured and intimate in a way that left a pleasant buzz on Naruto's skin like the goosebumps caused by the caress of a gentle evening breeze.

 _Trust me,_  the kiss said. _Trust this_.

Trust was a sweet surrender.Naruto drank it in, his hands holding onto the lapels of Sasuke's vest.

"I won't trade my life for yours." Sasuke breathed to Naruto like a benediction. Naruto brought their heads together, he wasn't ready to separate just yet. The space between them dwindled to nothing but they did not kiss again: that moment had long gone.

"Tomorrow?" Naruto asked. Their time in the genjutsu was over. It had been almost a year.Crazy.

"Tomorrow." Sasuke sighed as he moved away. Naruto let him go.

The space between them reverberated with the growing distance and it echoed in Naruto's being leaving his fingers twitching for the retreating feel of Sasuke in his hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be shorter and less emotional but hey they kissed. Twice.You'll notice Naruto neatly side stepping the idea that they kissed. He's kinda a repressed individual here. It's how he coped with the loneliness, depression etc. Sasuke on the other hand suppresses things on a whole new level. Perfect aren't they. 
> 
> This will not be an infidelity fic at least not physically. SasuSaku has long since divorced and NaruHina...well. for those that think Naruto is being too vulnerable or whatever a) he dying b) it's Sas c)things will change (it's always changing with these two)
> 
> Update: to leave no ambiguity the tags have been changed. You are still going to see elements of the canon pairings (probs in 6-ish chapters or so).


	6. A return to living

The illusion faded away into the wet, dark landscape of Naruto's lucid mental projection. Naruto took a deep breath trying to get a better grip on his anxious excitement at the prospect of maybe returning home. Or dying.

"Are you ready Uchiha-brat?" Kurama's inhuman voice rumbled. Naruto turned to Kurama who sat in his usual position. Kurama's aura was a dimmer red than usual and his eyes were clouded over purple with the Rinnegan. The bars representing the seal were gone.

"Kurama!" Naruto called out relieved to see his friend. The demon gave it's own version of a smile: all teeth and looking more vicious than anything. Naruto remembered it had taken a while to get used to the demon's weird expressions and the constant reminder that, while sentient, Kurama was in no way human.

"Good to see you again Naruto," Kurama nodded to Naruto keeping his eyes on Sasuke still.

"Eh, Sasuke, why is Kurama under his own genjutsu?" Naruto murmured. He knew just how much Kurama hated genjutsu.

"Kurama needed full access to your body in order to keep you alive but we still needed a seal to prevent his chakra from physically altering your body and doing more damage. Kurama agreed to be put under the genjutsu as a makeshift seal." Sasuke explained. Naruto just nodded, shocked that the two had managed to work together without needing Naruto to mediate.

Everything suddenly felt so rushed and overwhelming as if Naruto was standing on the precipice of some paradigm shift. This was the culmination of the previous year, granted the year wasn't exactly real. The whole ordeal had been life altering: a brush this close with death (provided they succeeded in keeping Naruto alive that is) would leave a lasting impression. That much could not be avoided and in truth, shouldn't be.

No. The change Naruto felt awaiting him right now left him feeling strangely bereft. Maybe it was because his fate was almost entirely out of his hands at this point? Whatever it was, Naruto needed to prolong this moment if only for a short while. As strange as it was, this had become his normal and he was...not as thrilled as he should be to see it go.

"Are you ready?" Sasuke said stepping close Naruto. Sasuke's face was calm and determined. His bangs were not covering up the Rinnegan. In fact, bar a few moments during the stay in the genjutsu, Sasuke had not kept his left eye hidden at all. All in all, Sasuke looked ready to tackle his mission, with his usual measured steps and unruly composure. Naruto put out his hands halting Sasuke's steady approach.

"Wait." Sasuke stopped and waited, face expectant but still deadly serious. Would Sasuke be more open in the real world? Would they able to spend more time together there or would this all fade into a distant dream? Some lingering memory on those lone nights in the Hokage office.

"Naruto, we haven't got all..." Sasuke was interrupted by the colliding of their lips. This kiss held some of the desperation from the previous one Naruto had initiated. Naruto tried to map out the feel of this version of Sasuke on his lips, tracing the feelings of their shared experiences between them. Sasuke didn't move except of laying an open palm against Naruto chest and the slightest push. Naruto took the hint and moved away with a little bittersweet smile.

Ironic that it was now of all moments that he wanted to last longer. Just a bit more time.

"Thank you Sas, for everything." Naruto said with a small chuckle.

"Is this what you've been doing while you were dying brat?" Kurama's teasing voice shattered the warm atmosphere. Naruto felt his face burn.

"Kurama!" Naruto shouted scandalised beyond belief. He could feel the flush spreading down to his neck and a slight itch where his cloak ended. They hadn't discussed yesterday's kisses. He and Sasuke had continued on as if they hadn't happened. The emotions behind them had been sincere, their messages well and truly received. There was nothing more to say. Naruto did not want to spoil things and think about anything else it might have meant. The demon sniggered mockingly.

"Focus," Sasuke cut in looking flatly at Naruto. Leave it to Sasuke to lecture a demon.

"We need to get this done. No dawdling." Sasuke said stepping back into Naruto's space. This time he lingered for a moment before asking in a much softer voice.

"Ready?" Naruto took a breath then crushed his fist into his palm and grinning.

"Let's do this!"

Many things happened in the second after the world snapped back into focus. First there was the overwhelming sensation of reality. It was similar to jarring sensation of stepping out into broad daylight after being in a dark cave for weeks. The sensory overload made him gasp. There was a strong electric smell in the air. The air itself felt superheated and dry. Everywhere were clouds of dust still settling slowly after there final clash. A high pitched dissonant ring was gradually fading, giving way to the sound of his surroundings. The sounds were still muffled and low.

The gasp turned into a silent scream as the pain set in. Naruto could feel his body trying to urgently knit itself back together but the process was like trekking through quicksand. There were broken bones and a hole in his chest. Blood was everywhere, endlessly pouring out.Naruto felt his whole body go cold and start to shake as he experienced the beginnings of trauma induced shock. His mouth tried to form words but nothing came out. The reality of death hit him like a train. Again.

Sasuke's chakra flared up around him grounding him in the moment. His chakra coalesced and darkened from a deep purple to indigo, reminiscent of Sasuke's time under the curse of hatred. What was Sasuke doing! His chakra wasn't as frenzied and unfocused as it had been in those dark days, though that could be attributed the decade of training between the two events.

The feel of their chakras intermingling was nothing new to Naruto. It was a magnetic interlocking of complimentary chakras and wills. When they had joined chakras during the ninja war, Naruto knew then without a doubt that Sasuke would come home. He just had to convince Sasuke that he could. That there was something worth coming home to.

The same certainty came again, Sasuke was not lost to darkness. Sasuke wouldn't let himself lose to the darkness within him.

Finally, Naruto felt the impediment to his healing factor fizzle out and both his and Kurama's chakra's work overtime to repair the damage. The problem with Naruto's yang release healing was it based itself on the regenerative process of the individual. The greater the damage the harder it was to drive the body out of survival mode into rapid repair. There were too many critical areas to heal: broken ribs, punctured organs, blood loss.

"Naruto, just hold on long enough for help to arrive." Distantly he he felt a hand touch his face. Naruto's vision was blotchy and rapidly darkening. Naruto was sinking into something deep dark and terrible. Try as he might, Naruto could feel himself slipping away. Somewhere behind him he knew was a line he wouldn't be able to cross once he passed it. It lurked intangibly behind him like a phantom whispering ghostly nothings at his back.

_Don't look back. Don't look back._  
_Don't-_

"Sasuke!" The cry tore out of Naruto like a savage creature of its own.

The world swam back into view. Adrenaline pumped coldly through Naruto. He still couldn't move. Couldn't do much except stare at Sasuke still glowing indigo with chakra and face strained with effort. Sasuke's mouth moved but Naruto heard no words. Dimly Naruto wondered if the cold he'd felt was actually adrenaline. His vision darkened once more and Naruto saw his field of sight fall to Sasuke's chest, he couldn't even feel his head loll to side anymore. A piercing sensation struck him like a bolt of lightning.

Naruto stood in a grey void. Turning he found Sasuke there with him. None of the pain or haziness had followed him here Naruto quickly discovered. Which meant this place wasn't in the real world.

  
"You are treading close to death Uzumaki Naruto, close enough to touch it.You are not powerful enough to keep him from death, Uchiha Sasuke." The Sage of the Six Paths appeared out of the grey, speaking first to Naruto and then to Sasuke. Hagoromo looked as he did when they had last seen him except far more corporeal. Naruto looked to Sasuke who's chakra was still flaring.

"No. I am not." Naruto paused. He had expected more denial from Sasuke, particularly in a more aggressive manner.

"Hey Sas, it's okay." Naruto offered with a smile on his face. He couldn't begrudge dying now. Not when his friend had gone through so much to keep him here. Now it was time to see Sasuke through this.

Sasuke didn't react at all to Naruto words. He turned fully away from Hagoromo as if disregarding their predecessor completely.

"This isn't about power." Sasuke spoke out.

"Naruto." Sasuke held out his hand. Naruto took it without hesitation. He had a promise to fulfill. Naruto trusted Sasuke would fulfill his own. Naruto wouldn't ask Sasuke to let him go and Sasuke wouldn't offer his life for Naruto's or follow Naruto into death.

Sasuke's chakra surged into a beautiful array of both darker and lighter shades of amethyst that bathed them both.  
Naruto felt a tug at his soul as Sasuke's heart was connected to his through Ninshu. He had never been on the receiving end of it. It was overwhelming to see and to understand the depth of Sasuke's emotion for him. To be consumed by the feeling as if it were his own. It was flooring. Naruto opened his own heart and poured out his own emotions to the mix, the bond between them reverberated with intense emotion.  
  
It felt like the moments during their spars when their movements ceased to be a fight but a rhythm and a dance that they both heard as they were weaving about each other for a short while. Where they orbited each other before, now their hearts were moving as connected objects. So close.

_I wish I had known. I wish we had longer._

_We do have longer._

Two Rinnegan stared at Naruto through the haze of amethyst chakra. A smirk that blossomed into a genuine smile.

Naruto crashed back into awareness in the real world.

Naruto was back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to be longer. In fact, it was meant to be two chapter but since it is from Naruto's perspective a lot of stuff went unseen. This chapter will be revisited from Sasuke's pov soon. I mean there are only two more chapters left in Naruto's pov (for the first act, anyway).  
> They are out of the genjutsu, Sasuke didn't actually do any healing. Not his forte in anyway, all he did was remove the effects of the ameterasu and six paths senjutsu concoction that was stopping Naruto from healing.  
> Now we will get to see them return to the real world, after a year-ish for them while less time has passed for the others.  
> *Cue other characters.
> 
> To g.o.d:  
> Comments have been moderated because there is no need for you to anger the people kind enough to read my work.  
> However, your comments did show hints of you ALSO reading my work so please continue if you'd like. I will still get your comments (i think that's how it works) and I'm desperate enough for feedback to not be picky.  
> It may be easier to shorten your diatribe to k.y.d.v.f rather than retyping every time.


	7. Wake up!

Naruto woke suddenly and quietly, his eyes flying open to be greeted by a pristine ceiling. It was quiet, too quiet.

Gingerly, Naruto seated himself upright confirming once and for all that he was in the Konoha hospital. There was barely any light filtering through the windows, casting the room in a shadowy vignette. Naruto could feel the traces of a cool night in the room still lingering on his blankets and the chill of the floor when he swung his legs over.

There was no pain. Just the stiffness that came with being in a bed for so long. Naruto looked up and wondered how long he had been here. It physically didn't feel that long at all. He hoped it hadn't been. After all, in the genjutsu it had been a year. Sasuke had succeeded. He had brought him back.  
The jerk would be insufferable, Naruto snorted amused.

Naruto realised he had been absent-mindedly tracing the pattern of a scar on his chest. Where the wound had been. Naruto wasn't surprised. Wounds from fire juts were difficult to heal and this was from ameterasu. Still the scar was small, barely noticeable if you weren't well acquainted with his body.

Naruto closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and focusing on the chakras around. Hinata, an ever gentle flame, and Himawari, a sharp cutting wind, both close by, exhausted but stable. Naruto smiled. Much closer still, and even more exhausted and quite well hidden was Boruto: a flickering cloud threatening to rain. Naruto opened his eyes to see Boruto there across the room sleeping awkward and all gangly teenage limbs, in a chair far to small for him. Naruto crouched before his son, knees creaking in protest.

"Boruto," Naruto whispered. Blue eyes slowly opened at first then sprang to life as Boruto vanished at reappeared a few feet away sword in hand and Jougan glowing in the dim light.

"Dad?" Boruto muttered in disbelief. The Jougan faded along with the curse marks as Boruto relaxed out of his battle stance.

"Dad." Boruto voice cracked with the violence of rapidly thawing glaciers. It was relief and pent up emotion that had Naruto moving without thought, rushing to comfort his son. Naruto hugged him tightly grasping at every inch he could protect. Boruto hugged back just as desperately.

"Hey, I'm right here. I'm back." Naruto said, voice like a balm. A tiny smile graced Naruto face. He was so happy to back. To see his family again.

Gods, he had missed them!

Boruto hugged him until Naruto felt the boy stop shaking. Boruto moved away trying to recover his dignity and wiping away a few stray tears. Then as if a switch had flicked on, the boy's expression shuttered into one of indignation. Boruto punched Naruto in the shoulder.

"Jerk! What the hell took you so long? How long does it take one to recover from a genjutsu?" Boruto demanded in low tone.

"Hey! Watch it brat, I'm still in hospital and injured! Besides, that genjutsu was a year long for me." Naruto grumbled back. Aside from the emotional display, his son was still the same though Naruto could see an agitation that lurked with Boruto simmering within his eyes like he had never seen. Boruto narrowed his eyes at him and huffed.

"Don't give me that old man. Your wounds healed up during the first day. We've been waiting two weeks to find out if your mind is totally scrambled and we need a new Hokage." Boruto said. The door opened and Kakashi stepped through.

"Brat, I thought we agreed- Oh, you are awake Naruto. I shall go and get Sakura." Naruto saw the flicker of warmth in Kakashi's eyes even though his tone remained mild bordering on unaffected and bored. Naruto also saw the agitation flare in Boruto eyes. The way he tensed and clenched his fists. It was a look Naruto had seen directed at him in the past. Deep betrayal.

"Nice to see you too, Kakashi-sensei. Could you wait a while, I'd like to speak with Boruto please?" Kakashi nodded genially and stepped back outside. Naruto waited awhile before turning back to Boruto.

"Boruto," Naruto asked seriously. "What happened?" Boruto's hands clutched his sword tighter. Naruto watched worry kicking up a notch as his son tried to control the distaste and venom from his face.

"All they care about is maintaining appearances and not a single fucking iota about the people under them," Boruto muttered.

"Boruto." Naruto warned.

"They accused Sasuke-sensei of going crazy and trying to kill you." Boruto's admiration for his mentor was very obvious to anyone. The boy's eyes would literally turn into stars whenever he saw the man. Hero-worship had turned to deep respect. Naruto would have been jealous if the feelings had not happened at the same time as he had been repairing his relationship with Sasuke.

"Boruto-" Naruto tried again.

"They took an almost chakra depleted man who couldn't even defend himself and arrested him with no trial." Boruto continued on.

"I tried to tell them. Sarada tried to tell them! But we can't trust the daughter of the Uchiha and his student over own fucking imaginations." Boruto growled.

"Boruto, I'm sure they had their reasons-" Naruto said firmly putting his hand on his sons shoulder. Boruto jerked out of his grip. The look of revulsion was directed at him now. Naruto could plainly see that Boruto had let go of a lot of pent up frustration and it was whirling out of control.

"I don't give a damn! Sarada had to stand there while they tore her critically injured father apart. Her third tomoe appeared in that room. Hearing that! Do you seriously think that Sasuke-sensei ..."

"Do not finish that sentence." Naruto growled out. Something in his voice cut through because the boy stopped talking. His trust and belief in Konoha had been deeply shaken. One of Boruto's flaws was he held grudges: long, bitter grudges. The boy was easy to offend. In a ninja society that was a painful condition to have as many people were prone to be callous with your life or those you cared about.

Both Uzumaki's tried to curtail their emotions. Naruto and both his kids tended to run hot though age had allowed Naruto to mellow out. Naruto never wanted to stifle Boruto's tendency to care about others so he never stopped Boruto from expressing his emotions both negative and positive. Naruto did however want Boruto to think about what he did with his emotions though. No one had ever really taught Naruto that one.

The tension in the air lessened gradually. Boruto looked at the ground with a pout. Naruto moved towards him again hugging him despite the protests from his son. It was so good to feel him again. The thought occurred to Naruto that in the genjutsu he truly had resigned himself to never feeling his family again.

"Boruto, I know you're angry. We will figure it out, I promise. Sasuke is my closest friend. He is so...important to me. I would never leave him behind. I never have and never will, believe it." Naruto said earnestly.

"Hn." Boruto said after a while. Naruto's eyes widened and he pulled back suddenly looking at Boruto who looked back in confusion at the sudden movement.

"What?" Boruto asked. Naruto blinked at his son.

"Did you just do the Sasuke hn thing?" Naruto could feel a big grin spreading across his face.

"No." Boruto muttered self consciously. He was always touchy about his... respect for the Uchiha.

"You did." Naruto teased drawing out the sentence playfully. Boruto looked away, crossing his arms.

"Whatever, hn." Boruto muttered, eyes popping open when he realised his mistake. He glared at his father.

"Not a word." Boruto grit out. Naruto chuckled and ruffled his son's hair. Boruto pushed the hand away though he was wearing his own smile. Gods, Naruto had really missed his family. Love welled within him and Naruto hugged his son again. Boruto stiffened at first.

"You have no idea how much I missed you Boruto." Naruto whispered. Boruto relaxed and hugged back just as fiercely.

Naruto sensed Sakura's chakra steadily approaching. Naruto took a deep breath and stepped back.

"Boruto, I will fix this. I promise." Naruto said his voice turning serious again then softer again.

"Go home, get some rest. When the others wake up tell them I'm awake and I'll be home as soon as I can." Boruto nodded all business-like. The boy stepped backwards and vanished with a glow of his Jougan, reappearing outside Naruto's window. With a final smile, he took to the roofs and disappeared out of sight.

Naruto turned to face his newest visitor who had been patiently waiting outside the door for Boruto to leave. Sakura walked in, quietly closing the door behind her.

"Lady Sakura, nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you again, Naruto-kun." She said punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"What's that for?" Naruto said laughly lightly. Sakura smiled at him.

"Call me Lady Sakura one more time and you'll find out." The joking tone from her voice petered out as she continued.

"Seriously, Naruto, you are lucky to be alive."

"I know, Sas really saved my ass this time." Naruto chuckled, his hand going to rub at the scar on his chest. Sakura hummed in agreement as she led him to sit down on his bed and take a seat before him.

"Ironic, considering he caused the damage as well." Naruto felt her chakra assessing him. When Naruto had become skilled enough to appreciate sensing the chakra of others, he had marvelled at how Sakura's amazing chakra control was mirrored even in her chakra natures. Earth and water, yin and yang. Complimentary balance in all aspects. Not a fragile , unyielding balance but a firm dynamic balance that reflected the nature of all living things and the world around them.

"You don't believe he was trying to kill me do you?" Sakura snorted loudly at that.

"Please, no. I know my ex-husband. The lengths he went to to keep you alive suggest otherwise. I believe the story Boruto and Sarada told us. They are not the type of kids to lie about this." Sakura finished her examination and began writing on her observations. Naruto let her be, while she finished her work.

"Where is the bastard? Boruto said the council had arrested him." Naruto asked when Sakura finished. She sighed and looked away to the window.

"Sasuke woke up a few days before you. He was confused as expected given just how much chakra he used and the genjutsu he cast on himself. When he sensed seals placed on him, he burned the place down with ameterasu and disappeared. We don't know where he went." Sakura spoke with a sad smile. Naruto felt his heart leap to his throat. The panic of Sasuke leaving never really went away.

"Do you think he is okay?" Naruto asked feeling his throat dry. Sakura looked at him incredulously.

"Sasuke can take care of himself. He is at his most dangerous when he feels threatened. That's what worries me: what he may feel forced to do. I hate ninja politics so much." Sakura sighed again pushing stray strands of hair out of her face. Sasuke and Sakura may have been divorced but their confidence in each other had never wavered. In fact, when their divorce had become public the two had seemed closer. At ease with each other in a way Naruto had long thought impossible for those two.

Naruto remembered Sakura explaining why she had wanted to be a kunoichi. Coming from a family of civilians, Sakura had been unprepared for the cold behaviour of the nine world. She had tried her best to fit in but if people weren't jealous of her skill, they disregarded her because she didn't come from an influential nin clan. Quickly, it became clear to her that such disregard would get her killed as collateral damage. She stood on the fringes of the social circles with the nin and on the fringes of the social circles with her civilian family.

It was one of the first genuine reasons she had admired Sasuke. His blatant disregard for the social hierarchy, for fawning or social manipulation. His loyalty to team 7 before he had left. Sakura's ambition sent her to Tsunade to carve out her own sphere of influence. Naruto had never realised how alone all members of team 7 had felt in their younger years and how differently the loneliness had haunted them.

"How exactly did this happen?"

"It's a long story and I'm certain the Elders have tried to keep me out of the loop as well. The only link we've had with the Elders and the Council has been Tsunade-sensei and Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said looking back. Naruto placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Tell me so that we can sort this out and get Sas back."

"I will, but first we need to discuss how you are going to proceed health wise. You may not feel it but you are still recovering." Naruto moved to stand up.

"Sakura but Sasuke is still out there. I feel fine." Sakura pushed him back down with a firm hand and a stern expression.

"Naruto, sit down. You are of no use to anyone going foolhardy into battle. Sasuke will come back, of that I have no doubt." Sakura settled back into her chair when Naruto made no move to get back up.

"Now your chakra is fluctuating wildly out of sync with the nine tails. You will need to re centre yourself when you can. Your mind is also still adjusting to the real world again so you may find your chakra control to be a bit out of whack as well. Any questions?" Naruto felt himself pout and looked away.

"Naruto, I want to help as well so much. I've watched my daughter being disregarded by people she admired all because of her blood and her fathers dark past. I want to help so bad." The clipboard in Sakura's hands snapped into two. Sakura paid it no mind. Naruto saw fire swirling in her green eyes and a faint purple glow from her yin seal.

"But I refuse to let anyone rush in and put themselves and others into more peril." Naruto felt a weird mixture of comfort and guilt hearing those words from his friend.

"I know that, Sakura, and I'm sorry for being impatient but I'm not so inexperienced as to just jump into a situation." Naruto replied. Sakura laughed lightly and spoke with a teasing smile.

"True, but when has age, experience or wisdom ever weighed in on you and Sasuke? You two always jump in head first when it comes to those you care for." Naruto smiled in response. Naruto had stopped apologising for his protective nature years ago.

"As I said,a lot has happened and it isn't my place to tell you some of it."

"Eh, Sakura come on!" Naruto grumbled. Sakura laughed and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"Shut up idiot, I'm gonna tell you what I can." The two talked till the sun rose. Unfortunately, Naruto's ire rose with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the penultimate chapter from Naruto's POV. Sasuke didn't feature in it but he's always in Naruto's mind. Also we are being introduced to Konoha nin politics. 
> 
> This chapter came out quicker cause Boruto and Naruto's interactions kinda just happened. The irony is how Naruto has to placate his son then go be placated by Sakura. SasuSaku, divorced partner heads of the Uchiha trio. NaruHina... they both done effed up.
> 
> Anyway if you like please comment, kudos, bookmark etc!


	8. Return of The Hokage: Nanadaime Uzumaki Naruto

  
"Why was Sasuke arrested?"

Naruto asked the question Council plainly. It's bluntness took most people off guard. Of the Elders, the Council and Naruto's delegation, only Kakashi and Tsunade were able to keep their composure. Naruto felt Sarada's chakra spike behind him.

"Pardon me Hokage-sama, isn't this a review of the Otsutsuki attack?" An elder asked. The Elder was relatively new to the Elder Council and clearly the more senior members had never even bothered to share the secrets they all kept. Naruto kept his frustration at bay.

"Yes it is. Since Sasuke saved Konoha from being attacked by me, something which was reported to you while I was incapacitated- I repeat, why was he arrested?" The atmosphere in the room shifted awkwardly and Naruto could see many Elders suddenly rethinking their logic: the younger elders that is. Kakashi began examining his nails and Tsunade took a swig out of a water bottle that Naruto was sure contained sake.

As previous Hokage, the two were required to be here though everyone knew they did not want to be. They both hadn't wanted to be Hokage in the first place.

"It was a precautionary measure. In case, he woke up and..." the elder that spoke up paused as if realizing the faulty logic. If that had been their reasoning why hadn't they sealed Naruto up as well. Sure, they apparently trusted Naruto far,far,far more than Sasuke, however not trusting someone was not grounds for arrest especially if said individual was injured.

"Do we have the time for this?" A senior elder asked. There was silence in the room and Naruto plastered on a very fake smile.

"I suppose not." Naruto began lightly. "So I will make things clear. Tonight, I will be making the truth of the Uchiha massacre and its conspirators, public " Kakashi and Tsunade's masks of indifference fell as they both assessed the elders and Naruto for a reaction. Sarada's chakra spiked once again and Shikamaru looked at Naruto in exasperation.

Naruto had made many concessions to get where he was. He had overlooked so much as a genin and as a Hokage in favour of keeping peace and earning his place. Most of the time, Naruto found it easier to forget the past and move on with the present. That had come to bite him when it came to Boruto trying to understand who his father was and having to pretend not to notice Sarada's frustration when anything referring to her father turned up as redacted.

The elders that knew what Naruto was talking about adopted very neutral faces and Naruto made it very obvious he was referring to them. Genocide was not the answer to a possible rebellion, neither was framing that genocide as an act of insanity to wipe your hands of it. It was a failure. The point of the council had been to avoid such a conflict instead they had opted for a preemptive strike against those that protected Konoha. Despite what the Council said, their acts had drastically weakened the Land of Fire.

What the council feared wasn't punishment for their crimes. No, it was the loss of trust from the clans they were bound to face. The other clans never interfered with the Uchiha massacre because it was thought to be an in-clan issue. Enough of that duplicity. Enough.

"Hokage-sama, this may not be beneficial to the village." An elder spoke in a disapproving tone. She knew about the massacre, knew about Danzo's plans and Naruto suspected, had actually taken part in the fulfillment of said plans. Naruto was done hiding things. It hadn't worked for seven generations of Kages.

"I disagree. Should we really keep the possibility of the past being repeated due to purposefully planted misinformation? This village was founded on the honest intention to stop hostility and for all clans to live together. You do those who preceded us a disservice by twisting their work to suit your ends." Naruto said passionately. Were the elders so set on keeping power that they did not care if they left the future in jeopardy? The elder that spoke frowned at Naruto then looked at him with pity.

"We could have you removed from office, Uzumaki Naruto."

The tension in the room spiked amongst the Council members who began muttering to each other. Naruto empathised with them. Few people actually knew the truth of the massacre: the senior Elders, the previous Kages, Shikamaru, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. No one else. Most of the other Council members were confused by what was happening right now, although a few seemed to be arriving at an approximately correct conclusion if their paling faces was anything to go by.

"Go ahead if you think that will stop me. Such a process will require the approval of the clan heads outside of this council and I will be required to defend myself. Who do you think will win, Elder? In fact, if we were to inform the people in this room right now of what it is exactly we are talking about, who do think will have the most support? Who do you think needs it?" This was by far, Naruto's most dangerous play. Naruto was popular with the common people and not so much the Council. Still he had enough influence for the question to be up in the air.

"And if the people lose faith in their government?" The same elder spoke up.

"Then that trust was nothing but an illusion to begin with. Trust can be lost and trust can be earned." Naruto answered. The muttering in the room only got louder.

"Hokage-sama, I think it fair that all the Council members be fully informed of the situation first." One member spoke above the noise.

"That is why I am here today." Naruto said smiling at them and trying his best not to roll his eyes. Naruto packed his things and signalled his delegates to prepare to leave.

"Where are you going?" A council member protested. Naruto looked at him plainly.

"We've got work to do," gesturing to Shikamaru and Sarada.

"Someone in here can fill you in on what's going on. Hopefully it will be the truth."

"What about the report?" Another councilor called out. Naruto had the grace to look sheepish.

"Ah, well I just woke up a few hours ago so there hasn't been much done."

"So you called a meeting just to say that!"

"Would you rather have heard about it in tonight's news?" Tsunade responded airily. Naruto grinned.

"We would have rather you waited before throwing Konoha into turmoil at such a crucial time." An elder grit out sending a warning glance to Tsunade which she ignored.

"If you had your way, we would be waiting forever. I am done waiting and I am done taking your excuses. Have a good day everyone."

********************************  
"You are so troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled once Sarada was out of earshot. The girl was both excited and terrified to finally here the truth regarding her family.

Shikamaru's behaviour said that he wasn't actually angry at Naruto and that this was more of his usual complaining.

"What? You knew what I was going to say Shikamaru." Naruto replied as he sat down at his desk. Stacks and stacks of papers formed sckyscrapers of bureaucracy were there to greet him.

"What took you so long to get that done?" Shikamaru sighed out. His eyes were closed and his head tilted back to the ceiling. Naruto knew that his mind was moving a mile a minute.

"What do you mean?" Naruto had thought about it more than once since he'd learned the truth of the massacre. He'd imagined marching into the Council chambers and demanding the release the information and forcing them to admit it in public. He'd thought of Sasuke's mind finally being at rest, him finally at ease in his own home. Many thought Naruto's attachment to Sasuke a noble hero's thing. The truth was much bleaker Naruto thought to himself. If Sasuke had asked Naruto to follow him into darkness enough times? The thought was best left alone.

Shikamaru looked down at Naruto for a moment in consideration.

"I forget sometimes that all the clan stuff doesn't come naturally to you. The other clans knew of the tensions between the government and the Uchiha clan. For all their power, the Uchiha clan did not have the military power to start a coup. Not alone at least. They had enough support from other clans to dictate terms to a government. It was why so many people ostracised Sasuke when we were in the academy, every clan wanted to distance their affiliation with a failed coup."

"Wait what are you saying?" Naruto asked. It had never occurred to him that the coup part was common knowledge though it made sense. In a village of spies, of course the other families knew. But that some had supported the Uchiha? That was new.

"I'm saying that this isn't even a battle Naruto. You, Itachi, Sasuke." Shikamaru rolled his eyes in true exasperation.

"What is it with extremely powerful people and thinking you are alone? Is it the arrogance? You haven't been alone in a long time idiot and never will be alone." Shikamaru said clapping the backside of Naruto's head.

"You don't think the Elders will try something funny?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, they will without a doubt. We will win though." Shikamaru said as he went back to starting at the ceiling. It had taken a few years for Naruto to realise the truth about why Shikamaru didn't want to be Hokage. Sure, he didn't like attention but with Naruto diverting the attention as Hokage, Shikamaru was under less scrutiny when carrying out his convoluted political schemes. It worked well that they trusted each other. Under the guise of laziness was a truly brilliant and keen mind.

"Hmm," Naruto hummed as he leant back into his chair putting his hands behind his head purppsefully ignoring the work before him.The paper mountains on his desk weren't going anywhere. Shikamaru, as always, gave him more to think about.

"So what do you think we should do?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru gave disinterested shrug.

"Depends on what the Council does. Victory may be inevitable but how it comes about will be based on how they  
act as we proceed." Shikamaru stood up, sensing their meeting coming to a close. He rifled through a few papers on Naruto's desk picking a few that caught his interest probably distantly connected to whatever web he was weaving currently.

"Ok then. Let's prepare for the press conference then. I don't want any surprises before then and also we need to decide which Uchiha related files we are going to make public." Naruto decided drumming his fingers on his desk excitedly. He wouldn't have to deal with this paper work for a while.

"I'll deal with that. You, start getting through this paper work. There is more waiting in my office." Shikamaru turned around and walked out leaving no room for discussion. Naruto pouted alone in his office.

"I just got out of hospital," he whined to no one in particular. Naruto turned around to see the view of Konoha behind him. The city was bustling with life at mid day. Naruto could feel the multitudes of human essences thriving within his city's border. Stretching out his senses even further he could feel little clusters of life further and further away. Certain bright spots of chakra he could easily identify; Naruto could sense Sasuke distantly. All of this he had sworn to protect and serve.

"Hokage-sam... Naruto! You are supposed to be working!" Shikamaru scolded as be walked in.

"While I was in the genjutsu with Sasuke, I convinced myself that I was going to die. I found it easier to wallow in regret for what I'd failed to do and I resented my path as Hokage. Now that I'm back, I realise I don't resent being hokage. Sure it can be crappy a lot of the time. But I resent what I let being hokage become to me. Being with Sasuke for that long reminded me that being Hokage is so much more than an ideal. It is a person and I'd been living as less for far too long. I'll get to work, believe it!"

"It's good to have you back, Naruto." Shikamaru said with a genuine smile. Naruto sat at his desk and gave him a beaming smile in response.

"It's good to be back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That concludes Narutos POV for the next couple of chapters. There will be a Naruto POV interlude during Sasuke's POV arc. Watch out for that.
> 
> This chapter was difficult because I was trying to not make Naruto disrespectful or spiteful or have dictator vibes but still keep him firm in his course of action.
> 
> I'm still working on the format of Sasuke's chapters cause Sas is going to have to deal with the fallout of Naruto's announcement.
> 
> The Council aren't the main antagonists (I think). Their place will always be backstabbing and political mayhem. The main antagonists are as always the Otsutsuki. Btw, Sarada is in a romantic relationship (not with Boruto).I don't know exactly when the relationship will pop up.


	9. Nascence (Sasuke's POV)

Sasuke had a few hideouts that were set up just for a case like this. If he were ever to be running away from a government or five again. No one would find him here for months if need be. Unfortunately, for Sasuke he figured out his mistake as soon as he arrived.

Sasuke hadn't realised just how low on chakra he was. The panic he felt had distracted him from just how weak he was. The adrenaline had fueled him to make an escape, nothing more. Under no other circumstances was he even supposed to have teleported in his current state. In his right mind, he would have scoffed at the lunacy of even trying.

Yet here he was, his body already collapsing as it went into a chakra-exhaustion induced hibernation. Sasuke managed one choked expletive as his world went sideways and darkened.  
  
The hibernation gave his mind time to assimilate the genjutsu memories at least.

Sasuke remembered their travels. Naruto's constant companionship, something he'd lived without for twenty odd years, left him wondering what his travels would have been like if he had allowed Naruto or even Sakura to join him.

But Sasuke realised that they all had needed the freedom of their own paths without the weight of the world or Sasuke's actions on their shoulders. It was the solitude of his travels after all that had allowed Sasuke to become his own individual; to, if not heal from his scars, at least come to accept them for what they were and grow past them.

Sasuke discovered, learnt and grew without a mold directing his actions. He loved it. A reprieve from the love and hate that had chained him to pain; Sasuke learnt to appreciate things again both big and small.Sasuke still returned to Konoha, for though it did not feel like hom, it was where those he cared for lived.

Even with the consolation that life had turned out the way it had for the best, Sasuke couldn't help but wonder sometimes. In the genjutsu,when he became so engrossed in Naruto and their adventures that his actual hold on reality would slip, the thought would rock him out of his stupor like a clanging rising bell.

Sasuke wondered, if his travels had been like this in the real world, would he have felt as he did now. It was obvious that Naruto felt it as well, as the blonde seemed to relearn what it was breathe around people and smile freely. Was the freedom from their pain and their scars just a product of the illusion or a reality borne out of the relationship he and Naruto were cultivating now?

It was both Sasuke concluded. The potential for such a relationship had always been there in the real world but it was the illusion, where they were free of their responsibilities, that gave the relationship a chance to break through the ground and unfurl like the tiny sapling of an oak tree. As much as their hearts barreling towards each other felt inevitable, this free and true connection was contingent on the circumstances and choices that had brought them as they now were to these specific moments.

In the end, the genjutsu had ended painfully for Sasuke. A price he was willing to pay twice over if it meant success. The Ninshu connection that Sasuke had managed wasn't pure for Hagoromo had never given him the ability to use. Still, Sasuke had made do with what he could (which was every scrap of potential he had left and all his natural defenses turned towards the single act) and had anchored Naruto to the living world. Naruto helped and hindered by opening himself up to the connection and throwing himself into the mix. While it had strengthened their connection, Sasuke's focus was radically splintered into anchoring Naruto to life and protecting Naruto from being obliterated by the chakra currents between them. There was nothing shielding Sasuke from the backlash.

Sasuke felt his eyes beginning to burn with the strain. An eruption in his head that spread throughout his being that would have had Sasuke screaming if it wasn't for his dedication to not burning away his and Naruto's minds away in the onslaught. Sasuke felt Naruto's chakra strengthen and when he was satisfied he let the man return to his own unconciousness in the real world.

"You always surprise me." Hagoromo said as the roar of pained died down into a bone deep throb. The apparition appeared before Sasuke, an alien grey hand ghosting over his cheek in a paternal manner-- the ghost could see Indra in him. It reminded Sasuke of the moment Kaguya had done the same with tears streaming down her face. She had been reminded of someone else too. Sasuke stepped away from Hagoromo, glancing at the grey below them. Tumultous feelings Sasuke would rather not experience again bubbled far too close to the surface.

"I am not your son, nor your legacy, nor your salvation." Sasuke gasped out to Hagoromo. Sasuke couldn't be any of those things again. The endless grey was shifting in and out of focus for Sasuke. He needed to get back before he was lost in his own mind or stumbled his way across the veil into death.

"No, I suppose you are not. Answer me this then, Uchiha Sasuke, who are you? You do not wear the symbol of the Uchiha or that of the Land of Fire." Hogoromo asked.

"Uchiha is my name and the Will of Fire is my heart but neither is my place nor my path to walk."

"No it isn't. But, I ask again, what is? You have quite a way to go yet Uchiha Sasuke. Return, he is waiting for you." Hagorom chuckled looking so fond that Sasuke could feel it like a caress. Sasuke had no business feeling like that.The grey expanse darkened into nothing. Then Sasuke had awoken in a jail cell.

Sasuke came back to reality in fragments. A consequence of having utterly subjected himself to his own genjutsu that he had forgotten to consider. To achieve the effect he had with Naruto, Sasuke had reversed his perspective when he cast the illusion.

The majority of Sasuke's conscious mind existed inside the genjutsu instead of outside where it was supposed to serve as an origin point and anchor to reality. As a result, when his consciousness returned entirely to reality, Sasuke's mind tried to slot in an entire years worth of memories in a space that didn't technically exist. Remembering came in bursts of clarity as his mind caught up.

That was only the first of his problems.

When he awoke for the first time, he had barely opened his eyes when he'd felt the seals restraining him and the bandages around his eyes. He panicked. Instinct kicked in as he struggled against his bonds. Adrenaline pumping Sasuke imagined wiping away the seals and ripping the blindfold off. Then it happened.

He felt the abstract idea in his mind leap out into reality. The feel of intangible becoming tangible in a way unlike anything he'd felt. Sasuke stilled, shocked and confused as the blindfold fell to the ground, black flames consuming it steadily, quicker than he'd ever seen ameterasu burn before. The ties on his hands and feet slackened and fell away. The entire room was on fire except there was no blistering heat, roaring blaze or flickering shadows cast by the mystic ameterasu: just a dark aberration that consumed everything in its path.

Sasuke could see the jutsu for what it was now. The concept of flame expressed by fire and yin release consuming all that was physical. The seals binding Sasuke disappeared in the blaze. Sasuke cast his senses out.

Sarada and Boruto were fine. Their chakras were strong: a bright flame and a stormy cloud respectively.Naruto's was subdued and not as overwhelming as usual, the inferno being more a sedate searing heat of a golden burning heap of coal. Sakura's chakra was there, strong and balanced: the feel of a forest and all it contained that was rapidly approaching him. They would be fine. Sasuke was sure.

Sasuke sensed someone else closer to him. Shikamaru stood outside the burning cell, arm outstretched and his shadows pouring out en masse to surround the flames some leaping out of the ground to try get to Sasuke. The guards were behind ready for whatever happened.

The ameterasu intensified forcefully, catching everyone unawares. The guards leapt away with a shout. The shadows were eroded away, blistering into ash then the ash also burning into nothing. Shikamaru stumbled back, his shadows retreating with him until he realised that some of his shadows were on fire. Several men rushed to help him but Shikamaru pushed them back.

Their eyes connected through the black haze of flame as Sasuke willed it to die down. Sasuke had no desire to hurt Shikamaru. The flames on Shikamaru's shadows died out of existence as Sakura burst onto the scene. Her chakra flared out with authority and the remain ceiling plaster splintered and dust fell to the ground due to her display.

The ameterasu flames died out completely and with a nod to Sakura and Shikamaru, Sasuke teleported away.

That was then. Now Sasuke lay in his hideout, recovering from severe chakra exhaustion.

When Sasuke's mind had assimilated the memories, he woke up with a gasp staring out into the dark cavern. His hideout was deep within the mountain, layered with dozens of seals that gave the illusion of a simple cave when in reality it was a large network of caverns that went almost all the way through the mountain. Sasuke took care of the immediate concerns: water, food and first aid. After which Sasuke passed out again.

When he awoke for the third time, Sasuke immediately noted that his chakra was at a decent level. Sasuke felt power emanating from both his eyes. Sasuke paused. A quick check of his reflection in a jar of water confirmed it.

Staring back at Sasuke in his reflection were two matching Rinnegan. They were pale purple with concentric circles and six tomoe. From what Sasuke had observed, when a being had more than one Rinnegan, the two merged together even if they existed in two separate eyes. The same had happened to him and now both his eyes felt utterly foreign to him. With a slow blink, he focused on deactivating the Rinnegan and he was relieved when it worked if only briefly.

Sasuke went outside and sat by a cliff overlooking the Land of Fire. It was summer, the lands were green and a breeze swept through Sasuke's hair. It was a good as any place to meditate, Sasuke guessed. Sasuke preferred moving meditation, most Uchiha did, the Sharingan was motion based dojutsu. Sasuke went through the motions slowly feeling his chakra rise and fall within him like an approaching wildfire and thunderstorm. Sasuke let his chakra manifest, gathering a chidori and letting spread like a cloak throughout his body. His breath came out in quiet huffs of smoke.

As he moved through a cycle, he felt his Rinnegan activate. The corporeal world faded away and it was replaced by the flow of chakra rushing into focus with gale force speed. He could see it all down to the most minute; its shape and nature bare and laden out.The flickers of animals in the wildlife below; The flow of senjutsu through nature touching all objects and connecting them together in one swirling vision of energy; the huge masses of the tailed beasts around the world in the distance nothing but bright specks. Naruto was there as well of course, a smouldering mass of wind and fire. Sasuke felt the attention of Kurama within Naruto turn to him as if sensing his sight. He felt their presences grow like lengthening shadows along a wall leaping out to devour him, dark and imposing, darkening Sasuke's vision. It was overwhelming!

Sasuke shut his eyes and staggered to the ground, heart thundering in his chest and in his ears. Air rushed into his lungs in deep shaken gulps. He could feel a thin sheen of sweat cooling on his skin.

With deep breaths and eyes tightly closed, Sasuke calmed himself. He was no stranger to intense dojutsu. He had spend years alone working his way through the intense evolutions of the Sharingan. Sasuke let himself sink into a still meditation, adjusting himself to his dojutsu. He could not let himself activate whatever that was by accident again. If Sasuke could easily deactivate the eyes as he had done before then his body had already started acclimatized to their presence. The eyes were fully his.

As as the heat of the day died down and dusk gave way to a dark summer night, Sasuke felt the approach of a chakra he knew very well. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that Naruto had already found him, especially with the weird connection they had experienced. The orange blurred it's way across the forest plain, making it's way to the mountain side. Sasuke leapt down to a clearing to meet Naruto.

The other man stumbled into the clearing stopping abruptly. Naruto was bathed in the golden glow of the Six-Paths Kyuubi mode, Sasuke didn't even need to open his eyes to know. His Rinnegan could feel the glow of his aura even behind his eyelids. Sasuke thought it be appropriate for him to speak first.

"Naruto." He acknowledged, voice far gruffer and quiter than he intended. He didn't want to worry Naruto but it only occurred to Sasuke that he'd been asleep for who knew how long and had barely spoken before this. Sasuke hadn't even planned on speaking first until Naruto arrived.

Sasuke needn't have worried though because all he heard was a relieved sigh, footsteps and an even brighter glow as Naruto approached.

"Sasuke," it came out in a windy exhale. Arms wound themselves securely around Sasuke's shoulders, who could not help but return the hug with an arm around Naruto's back and a quiet relieved sigh of his own

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the first chapter of Sasuke's POV everybody. This is in fact supposed to be a prologue but the way the next chapter takes off makes this its own chapter. 
> 
> Sasuke is gonna be in a constant state of being overwhelmed, poor guy. But he functions very well under pressure so he'll probably shrug off everything. I'm hoping to have Sasuke's voice more fleshed out by the next chapter. We will begin hearing about the hyuuga in two or three chapters cause they are after all the house of the other great dojutsu, I can say now I think that this will be the backdrop for where NaruHina stands.
> 
> Ask questions, comment, kudos etc.


	10. Convalescence

 "I'm so glad you're okay, teme! Disappearing like that..." Naruto grumbled lightly. Naruto's voice landed heavily on Sasuke's chest leaving him winded. The glow behind Sasuke's eyelids dimmed considerably and he felt the flow of nature chakra rebalance itself when Naruto deactivated his Six Paths Sage Mode.

"Hey, what happened? Why are your eyes closed?" The voice lost its playful tone becoming a quieter, gentler concern. A hand touched the brow of Sasuke's eyes. Warmth against a cool breeze, chakra searching, trying to heal. Sasuke leaned away from the touch with a touch of regret.

"Nothing like that." Sasuke could feel the confused frown on Naruto's face even when he made no move to reestablish contact. Sasuke pictured the morning blue eyes narrowing slightly in consideration and concern swirling within the tiny dark flecks in Naruto's irises. Sasuke didn't even need the Sharingan to remember the image. It had played out a dozens of times when the two had met up outside of Konoha during Sasuke's travels in and outside their dimension. 

"Then what's wrong?" It would be more difficult to explain and far too much trouble to put into words. Sasuke opened his eyes slowly, feeling his Rinnegan glow slightly, adjusting to the unimpeded sight of chakra. Movements of chakra superimposed themselves on the physical image that Sasuke saw. Naruto peered at him in awe,

"Oh, you have a second Rinnegan eh? I thought I was imagining things when I saw it in the genjutsu. It looks so cool...and kinda scary looking. What does it do?" Naruto babbled excitedly already leaning in to get a better look. Sasuke sighed at the blondes antics, letting the power of the dojutsu wash over him, chakra flow intensifying into a dizzying array. Before he could get overwhelmed, Sasuke focused on Naruto.

"I can see everything that contains chakra, its shape and nature." As Sasuke spoke, Naruto's chakra became more defined the longer Sasuke focused on it. Sasuke could see Kurama as if he were an afterimage within Naruto. The demon raised an inquisitive eyebrow seemingly also interested in the developments. The golden blaze Naruto exuded was a synergetic confluence of Naruto's bright yellow aura that circled them like a whirlwind; and Kurama's monstous fire burning within. Even though the Six Paths wasn't active, Sasuke could see the marks along Naruto's arm as well as the seal that made Naruto a jinchuuruki pulsing with a life of its own. It was an amazing sight.

"I can see you. All of you. I...can see the wound." It was smaller, a lot smaller than the gaping mess that Sasuke saw after he had struck. Still, Sasuke had hoped that it wouldn't scar. He wanted no trace of what had transpired that night. 

Sasuke pulled his sight abruptly back into the physical world. The distance had closed between them, Sasuke's hand was settled across Naruto's chest where he could feel the rough texture of Naruto's scar even through the orange shirt. The dimming light made Naruto's eyes a deep dark hue like the ocean on a dark windless night. Naruto's face was open, enthralled: caught securely in the moment that Sasuke had inadvertently created. Sasuke felt the rise of emotion expanding through his chest with each breath he took.

Desire. Deep seated desire leaving him weightless and unbound.

Sasuke stepped away, cutting the lengthening pause abruptly. He cleared his throat quietly, hoping his voice would be less hoarse.

"I'm not sure what else I can do but..."

"Things are more intense." Naruto finished for him quietly, his eyes still staring wide at Sasuke. Sasuke hummed in agreement. The silence continued long enough to make Naruto fidgety.

"So, uh, when are you coming back to Konoha?" Naruto asked rubbing the back of his neck and an awkward grin on his face. Sasuke look back at him, eyebrow raised. He doubted Naruto was unaware of Sasuke's unlawful incarceration.

"The arrest thing has been dealt with, I assure you." An awkward chuckle, this time Naruto looked away.

"Hn. How did you deal with it?" Naruto tensed visibly. The hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck rose. The air felt chillier by the tiniest margin. Naruto looked... shifty.

"Naruto." The man looked at him with a smile but Sasuke could see a heavy resignation planting itself on Naruto's shoulders even in the darkening light. Sasuke made a move towards Naruto, hand outstretched, when Naruto spoke.

"I made an announcement publicising the information concerning the Uchiha massacre and the Elders involvement." Naruto's words stopped Sasuke in his tracks. Sasuke could have sworn the entire forest paused mid-breath with far too little air to carry them to the next moment. Sasuke's vision sharpened till to him, the forest may as well have been bathed in the brightest summer sunlight and not a new moons silver twilight.

"When?"

"Sasuke--" Naruto started.

"When?" Sasuke asked again. His voice coming out heavy and strained. There was a bubbling anticipation beneath his skin, a tautness that could not be explained. Sasuke felt his reflexes sharpen and sharpen even further under the influences of his Mangekyou.

"Earlier today."

"I... the Elders wouldn't let you do that without a fight."

"I told the Elders that they had no say in the matter. This needed to be done, Sasuke! There's a new generation being grown into these lies. Half the council didn't even know what I was talking about!" Sasuke closed his eyes, willing his Sharingan to disappear.

Sasuke had accepted that the failure to bring about full justice for his clan was his own failure. Danzo's death and recovering his clans eyes had to be enough. Sasuke would continue the Uchiha line, if not in name then by the Sharingan.

Sarada was to never be burdened by the weight of his sins or the tragedy of the Uchiha. Her future would hers and hers alone. Sakura had her family. His parents had their legacy. Naruto and Itachi had their peaceful village. Sasuke would help them all realise their dreams. It was enough. It had to be. The failure to bring about truth was his. His. Sasuke had accepted that.

"What they did was wrong! Sasuke, what they're doing now is wrong -"

"Do you think I don't know that?" Sasuke glared at Naruto, halting the man's tirade. Sasuke gave up on deactivating his Mangekyou, it pulsed painfully, chakra flooding his optic nerves. There were too many conflicting emotions within him: Anger, hatred, pain, love, joy, relief and treacherous hope. The ghost of Sasuke's darkest days passed over him, cold and heavy. Sasuke turned his mind away from the memory completely but he could feel it lingering behind him, just a couple of steps away. As it always was.

Naruto stood tensely, jaw clenched and stormy eyes, frustration billowing out of him in indignant waves. The blond was on the defensive and his stance was protective. Sasuke stepped closer to Naruto, hoping to calm him down. Nothing could be done about it now. It was done. There was no use dwelling on it now. Their next step was crucial though. Sasuke could see the story spiralling out of control far past the borders of the Land of Fire.

"We need to be ready for the Council and the public's response." Sasuke felt his Mangekyou die down a bit. Focusing on tangible goals certainly helped float above the mess of emotions.

"Yeah, yeah. Shikamaru and I are working on that." Naruto huffed out, shoulders slumping. Sasuke's arm went out to Naruto's shoulder before Sasuke thought it.

"I'll be in Konoha in three days. I still need time to get the Rinnegan in control, the Council will want to see me." Naruto nodded his head in agreement not quite looking at Sasuke. His eyes were far away, troubled still. Sasuke frowned.

"Naruto?" A beat. Then, Naruto turned troubled determined eyes on him.

"Did you not want the truth out?"

"I did. I do." Naruto moved in closer to him peering into Sasuke's eyes and placing his own hand on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke fought down the urge to look away.

"Then why is your Mangekyou so bright?" Naruto asked quietly looking down to the ground. Yes, Sasuke noted, his eyes were glowing brightly again. The Mangekyou, out of all forms of the Sharingan, was the most deeply connected to its users emotions; so much so, that it could supersede the Eternal Mangekyou when the user was most stressed.

"I wasn't expecting it. Hearing that, brought... brought it all back." Sasuke sighed out, his breath stuttering out oddly. Naruto's head hit Sasuke's chest softly.

"I'm sorry." Naruto garbled out, voice strained by an emotion sasuke could not identify.

"Hn," Sasuke huffed in quiet amusement.

"It couldn't be avoided. The pain has always been there. It never went away." Since he was seven. Everyday. When the rawness of it had faded, the pain had grown and bloomed, its fruit being hatred. The hatred flourished and ripened until seeds of even more pain burst forth and sowed themselves within Sasuke's soul. The cycle resumed.

Sasuke cloak bunching up tightly in Naruto's hands tore Sasuke out of his reverie. Sasuke brought up his single arm to the back of Naruto's head, softly running his hand through blonde locks that were longer than they had been in years. They stood in silence as their emotions simmered. Finally, Sasuke broke the quiet.

"Naruto, you need to go back." Sasuke was mildly surprised when Naruto let go without a fuss. There were traces of moisture around Naruto's eyes.

"Yeah, I know." Naruto started glowing again, even brighter now that there was no trace of daylight left. His eyes turned orange and the crossed lines of the Sage-Kyuubi Mode appeared.

"Sasuke, I can't stop trying to erase your pain. Your clan will get its justice. Believe it!" With that, Naruto disappeared in a streak of gold.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Sasuke teleported into Sakura's office precisely at 9 a.m. Naruto had sent him a message on his last day before returning to Konoha stating it would be best for all involved if Sakura checked him out before Sasuke went gallavanting across Konoha. The message also contained an official summons to a Council meeting at midday. Sasuke had already begun stocking up his patience for the event.

Sakura was sitting in her chair not surprised to see him or by the method with which Sasuke had chosen to appear. She raised an eyebrow and glanced at a clock on the wall.

"Most people knock before entering y'know."

"Hn." Sakura smiled at the trademark response. Sasuke quirked his lips in reply.

It was difficult, getting where they were now. That was not to say their situation wasn't difficult anymore. They both had tried so hard to make things work between them but each success they made took something vital from each of them till they finally sat down and decided to stop the pretense. Thinking about those moments of uncertainty concerning their future with each other and even their past choices made Sasuke's fist clench and goosebumps rise on his skin. Sakura thought about it too on occasion; in those the moments where her eyes dimmed and she would fold her arms against herself to keep from crushing anything in her grip, but Sasuke could feel the yin seal on her forehead begin to hum with energy. They had both tried to spare each other the pain only to inflict it on themselves while the other bathed in the guilt.

No, Sasuke tried not to think of those moments. He tried to make the best of what they had now.

Quietly, the pair moved to the examination bed. Sasuke sat silently on the bed while Sakura examined him. Her chakra weaved through him gently prodding and assessing.

"Naruto said you had awoken a second Rinnegan." Sakura prompted. Sasuke trusted her and knew she kept herself as far away from politics as possible, so he had no problem showing her his eyes. Sakura's hand moved to his temple, the pale green haze moving to Sasuke's periphery. Sasuke's eyes shuttered and he resisted the urge to close the eyes.

"Examining you is always something of revelation," Sakura whispered distractedly, eyes not looking away.

"The effect of the Rinnegan on your biology as it matures. The depth of your spiritual energy and the fluidity of your chakra. It's fascinating!" Sakura exclaimed as she pulled away and began writing in her notepad.

"It's not mine." Sakura stopped writing and titled her head while looking at him. They'd had this conversation multiple times. Sasuke would grudgingly admit that Sakura had a more valid point, and a marginally less biased perspective. Still it didn't change how he felt about it all.

"You aren't an almagamation of stolen parts. It is fundamentally a part of you, Sasuke. Whether by conquest or inheritance, it is you." Sakura said firmly.

"Hn."

A knock and the door opened. Sarada slid in, eyes lighting up when she saw him. Sasuke felt a smile grow on his lips. Sarada's hair was still the same short style that she and her mother opted to keep. She had started wearing black pants after her latest growth spurt. She had also started wearing contacts. Her face still held its baby fat, something Sakura teased their daughter relentlessly for.

"Papa!" Sarada called out running to him with a quick hug. Sasuke returned the hug still sitting on the bed. Sakura looked at them with amusement. Sarada stilled when she took a proper look at Sasuke's face, her hands tracing the corner of his eyes to his temples. This time Sasuke closed his eyes and bowed his head. When he opened his eyes he let the power of the Rinnegan manifest and he saw the pulsing flame that was his daughters chakra.

"Your eyes." Sasuke said. He could see the now three tomoe in her sharingan within her, not yet activated.

"Mama, we agreed I'd get to show him." Sarada complained. Sakura laughed.

"I didn't tell him anything!"

"I can see them. It's a perk of my eyes. "  
Sarada huffed, then smiled and hugged him again.

"I'm so happy you're back." Sarada murmured. Sasuke gave a small nod as he moved back onto the examination bed. Sarada stood next to her mother.

"Mama, so how is he?" She asked crossing her arms.

"He is doing well. Still recovering from that mess of a genjutsu he pulled but he will be good to go in a matter of days. Your father has always been a tough one." Sakura's spoke in a disapproving tone giving Sasuke a stern look that melted into doting when she turned to face Sarada again.

"Do you have any idea how long you'll be staying, Papa?" Sarada asked. Sakura nudged her daughter gently by the shoulder.

"Oi, you can't just say that that! He got back literally an hour ago."

"Yes, I know that mama." Sarada said pushing up at glasses that were no longer there.

"But we have an Otsutsuki member unaccounted for and Papa's still the only person who can track them down. In fact, it might be easier with that new eye of yours." Sarada now had a shrewd look in her eye, voice lilting into a more diplomatic manner. Both Sasuke and Sakura shared a fond smile.

"There are things I need to deal with first." Sasuke answered honestly. It was probably best he was there for the fallout of the Uchiha reveal lest either the Council or Naruto do something foolish. In the meantime, Sasuke would work on what they had here, that is, the Otsutsuki that cast the genjutsu on Naruto. How functional was she after Sasuke's attack anyway?

Sarada hummed, her eyes flashing knowingly. Sasuke knew they would have to talk about the Uchiha massacre and what happened after, sooner rather than later.

"Don't you two have a council meeting to attend?" Sakura said gasping at the time and mumbling about all the things she had to do at the hospital. They all left the Sakura's office, with Sakura making a beeline for one if the wards. Sarada gave her a cheerful wave.

"Papa, do you want to go to the meeting together?" Sasuke nodded. People were whispering as they always did when they saw him town. Sasuke made sure to deactivate his Rinnegan completely.

"Let them see us. Let them know we stand together." Sarada murmured behind a smile, once again fiddling with glasses that weren't there. Sasuke smiled and tapped her forehead.

"Do you have any questions?" Sasuke murmured. Sarada glanced at him then looked away, folding her arms against her chest.

"I..I do. So many questions. Would you answer them?" She whispered.

"Yes. All of them." Sarada would be the only person he would ever make such a promise to concerning this. Whatever she thought of him after, would be up to her. Sarada peered up at him and gave him a soft smile.

"I will ask when we are both ready." Sasuke smiled at that.

As the two wandered through the village, Sasuke could feel a single persistent gaze trained on them. The presence did not move even when he and Sarada were supposed to be out of its field if vision. When Sasuke abruptly stopped and turned in the direction of the spy, the strange sense of being watched retreated like the warmth of the sun's rays being hidden by a large passing cloud. He knew that feeling.

Hyuuga. Sasuke hadn't been in the town for more than a fucking hour.

"Papa, why did you stop?"

Sasuke shook his head and moved on to catch up with Sarada. He had little patience for the day ahead as it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so hard to write!  
> Anyway, so Sasuke's chapters are, as you may have figured, him dealing with people and dealing with Naruto. That is going to be the format: Scene with others + scene with Naruto = chapter. This is Sasuke confronting the connections he's made, doing things and of course, him and Naruto floundering about into romance. Contrasting how Naruto was alone, excluding Sas, in the genjutsu.  
> Now, pertaining Sasuke's characterisation, Sasuke is difficult to write sometimes because a lot of his thoughts are internalised rather than spewed unlike certain uzumaki's. Trying to portray first hand his feelings while maintaining an aloof air is not easy lol. Hell, looking at Naruto through Sasuke's eyes isn't easy.  
> For those who are not for seeing SasuSaku in any shape or form, i am sorry. Sakura and Sarada will repressent Sasuke's dedication to those he cares for outside of Naruto. Almost a direct parallel to the family that he lost. We will be introduced to the captured Otsutsuki member next chapter.  
> P.S. I shan't be exploring the mechanics of divorce in a family in depth (from Sasuke's pov that all happens off-screen hehe, convenient) I feel like that will be horribly written on my part and i dont have the time for it. Just know that it happens, you will get snippets of it. The Hyuuga have their hands in that cookie jar. LIKE, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE!


	11. Politics is a Dirty Game

That went better than I imagined." Shikamaru sighed out as the three entered the Hokage's office.

Sarada had gone off to join her team for training. Or as Sarada had referred to it, Konohamaru trying his hardest not to flinch everytime he looked at her. Apparently, the man idolised his grandfather and had said many times that he wished he was more like him. Sasuke had responded that Konohamaru should know that his grandfather's actions were not his own.

"I don't think its guilt he feels, more of shame." Sarada had responded ruefully before taking off.

Now it was Naruto, Shikamaru and Sasuke in the office, all feeling drained from the Council meeting. Naruto dramatically slumped into his chair and let his forehead hit his desk. The towers of paper on his desk shook with the impact. Shikamaru slid into his chair with a tad more grace but the same 'done-with-it-all' attitude. The man closed his eyes and faced the ceiling, his trademark pose for contemplation.

"Really, and how could it have gone worse?" Naruto groaned.

"There were several moments when I thought Sasuke was gonna murder us all." Sasuke should have been offended, but he had briefly considered it when he had been subtly asked for the FIFTH time if he was sure he hadn't been trying to murder Naruto and attack Konoha.

"Not everyone." Sasuke responded lightly.

"Hmm, so you wouldn't have tried to kill me for the second time in two weeks?" Shikamaru said, his eyes still shut.

"What?" Naruto said lifting his head with great difficulty.

"There was no first time. Your shadows touched the ameterasu not the other way around." Sasuke shrugged. Shikamaru conceded the point easily with a shrug of his own. Naruto looked back and forth between them before dropping his head back onto the desk with a loud thunk. Both Sasuke and Shikamaru winced. A paper on top of one of the piles was dislodged and floated forlornly onto the back of Naruto's head.

"We should probably inform the other Kages of what happened." Shikamaru muttered.

Sasuke nodded adding,"Not through the official means. None of us have the time for that." Naruto looked up, an energy springing back into his eyes.

"We can't afford to get caught doing shady stuff right now though. The last thing we need is the Council accusing us of going behind their backs." Naruto said. They all nodded in agreement. Sasuke kept glancing at the papers in the room. There were too many papers. Even at Naruto's worst, things never got this bad. Naruto caught the glances and grumbled,

"Yeah, the Council is trying to drown me in paperwork and accuse me of incompetency to shut me up." The blonde glared vindictively at the stacks of paper as if they -the inanimate objects that they were-had done anything to deserve it.

"Shikamaru can't even sign off on them for me cause they've been hinting that he does all the work and I goof off all day." Sasuke scoffed internally. The pettiness of politicians never failed to lower the bar for human decency.

"We have more important things to do than paperwork. Let it pile up, either they deal with this or they deal with the Otsutsuki threat. Let them choose." Sasuke said darkly. He never liked governance and he liked dealing with self-interested politicians even less.

"It's not just that, there's reports of hyperactivity in the criminal underground network since the Otsutsuki attack. The Council have latched onto that. And they're demanding we speed up restoration processes from the damage caused by the attack as well." Naruto added.

"They are trying to undermine you and your allies." Shikamaru said still looking at the ceiling.

This was what Sasuke had been afraid of. That Naruto and those he cared would become collateral to the Elders and their schemes. Sasuke didn't doubt that they could beat the Council no matter what stunt fhe Council pulled. What he didn't want was for those he cared for about to pay the price. Still, the collision course they were headed for was unavoidable.

"I say, we do what we need to do. Let them say what they want. If they think I should be Hokage, let them ask, it's not like I will ever say yes."

Naruto sighed, "I was hoping to not have tensions escalate." He gave Sasuke a furtively conerned glance that Sasuke did not miss. Shikamaru hummed something unintelligible in reply.

"What was that?" Naruto asked.

"I said, this confrontation is inevitable. Trying to half-ass things or all together avoid it is what makes things spiral out of control and innocent people get hurt." Shikamaru brought his head down and opened his eyes, facing Naruto full on. Naruto pursed his lips, not liking the idea.

"Shikamaru is right." Sasuke said quietly. They could not afford to be pushed into a corner by the Council here. He quirked his lips upward to try reassure Naruto that all would be well. Naruto searched Sasuke's eyes for any hesitance but Sasuke knew all he would find there was support. Naruto sent a small smile back that fell a bit flat. Sasuke could not understand why Naruto was hesitant now when he had been so eager to get the truth out earlier. Drawing a genuine smile out of Naruto felt like coaxing an injured animal out of its hiding spot. Sasuke was getting closer and closer to success the longer he maintained eye contact, nevermind that his own smirk was widening into a smile.

"We need allies within the shinobi groups, noble families and the Council if possible." Shikamaru mused out loud rubbing at his goatee.

"The Hyuuga were watching me and Sarada today, it is fair to say that they are with the Council."

What Sasuke meant to be an observatory remark seemed to come off differently to the other two people in the room. Shikamaru's face hardened for a split second then smoothed out into a more placid demeanour. Naruto's eyes narrowed fractionally and Sasuke did not miss how the blonde's hands twitched but stayed flat on the table.

"Naruto." Sasuke kept his voice measured. Sasuke trusted Naruto with his family but he still wanted an answer, even if it was a non-answer. There was some silent communication that went on between Naruto and Shikamaru. Then they both came to some unspoken consensus.

"I'm going...to get started on my stuff. You should too, if you plan on being able to still see your door from there by the end of the week." Shikamaru said standing up abruptly and grabbing the smallest pile off of Naruto's desk. Naruto pushed another pile towards Shikamaru, making a pathetic face while doing so. Shikamaru stared at him, gave a longsuffering sigh, and walked out with both piles of paper. Naruto gave Sasuke a conspiratory wink as his assistant shut the door with a bit more force than necessary. Sasuke did not react.

"There is so much happening with the Hyuuga, I don't even know where to begin." Naruto sighed out shoulders sagging. The Hyuuga, being arguably the most powerful clan in Konoha, tended to be at the forefront of whatever happened in Konoha.

"The beginning." Sasuke prompted. He wasn't sure if he could help with the Hyuuga, that would involve political manoeuvering that was far beyond Sasuke but he would always support Naruto on whatever he needed.

"The beginning of which Hyuuga mess?" Naruto said shooting Sasuke a rueful smile.

"The tensions within the branches of the Hyuuga are reaching a boiling point. The secondary branch is pushing for war." Sasuke tilted his head in consideration.

"The secondary branch don't have the political backing and the Caged Seal prevents them from actually fighting the main branch." Sasuke said lowly.

"Yes, that is as long as the matter stays in-clan, I have no power to get involved since I am not a part of the clan. Recently, they have been trying to get my kids recognized as part of the clan since Hima possesses the Byakugan and the Jougan is a mutation. Problem is, they cannot be part of the main branch like Hinata--"

"Therefore, they would be required to take the Caged Bird Seal." Sasuke finished for him. Naruto nodded grimly.

"Exactly. They are hoping the threat will force me to act despite my position as Hokage forcing me to be neutral. I get that they want to free themselves from the Caged Bird Seal. But to use children," Naruto clenched his fists and looked away.

Konoha has been using kids as political leverage for years, Sasuke wanted to say.

Naruto already knew that and it would be unnecessarily cruel to remind of it. After all, he and Sasuke's childhoods were both products of political warfare.

"That was before they found out about the divorce." Naruto muttered. Sasuke's eyes widened and Naruto followed suit when he realised what he had said.

"You are getting a divorce?" Sasuke asked in shock. Why hadn't Sasuke been aware of this? Well, he didn't spend much time in Konoha and most of that time was spent working, recuperating and with Sarada and Boruto. Before the genjutsu, he and Naruto never got enough time to have any deep discussions on each others welfare.

"Yes." Naruto grit out defensively. Sasuke made his face carefully neutral. Naruto leaned back into his chair and sighed heavily,

"Sorry, it's just...everyone has been asking questions: invasive, offensive questions." Sasuke nodded, letting the issue go. He could understand the need for distance and privacy.

"What was the main branch's response?" Sasuke said diverting the topic back to the in-clan fighting. Naruto gave him a thankful nod at the reprieve.

"They had a gathering where they revised if all the main branch members could still use the seal correctly." Sasuke imagined it being the equivalent of one country playing war games at the shared border of another.

"So the spying could be either branch really. The secondary branch wants to play the favoritism card while the main branch would be cashing in a favour with the Council," Naruto finished. The blonde clasped his hands together and let them fall onto the table.

Sasuke digested the news slowly in the ensuing silence. Had Naruto bitten off more than he could chew? Naruto was always ready for a challenge, ready to take an adversary on. The man thought that together, he and Sasuke, could do anything. While that had proved true so far, Sasuke wasn't keen on testing the limits of such a sentiment. Right now, Naruto needed political allies within Konoha. Sasuke may have been the worst candidate but he still had his uses aside from politics.

"What do you need me to do?" Sasuke asked, his mind already coming up with missions and ideas to aid Naruto's cause.

"What? Um, I'm not sure you want to get involved in... politics." Naruto said with great care. Sasuke snorted lightly,

"Dobe, I know that. Politics and people are your area." Sasuke said dismissively. Naruto snorted back a laugh.

"The other things: the criminal activity, the Otsutsuki and I can arrange a meeting with the other Kages through unofficial means easier than you can." Sasuke said getting up to leave.

"Sasuke you don't have to- Wait!" Naruto rushed to stand up. His chair screeched and couple of papers fell of their piles. Sasuke halted his departure.

"Where are you going?"

"To see the Otsutsuki."

"Now?" Sasuke bit back a sigh of exasperation.

"Yes, Dobe. Now." Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Everyone except me and Shikamaru has been barred from see her."

"I won't ask for permission then."

"I'll come with you," Naruto said grabbing his cloak.

"Naruto." Sasuke protested. The entire point of this was that Naruto had more time to devote to the political demands of his job. If he went with Sasuke that defeated the purpose. Naruto glared mulishly at him.

"Look, teme, we are trying to not step on toes here." Naruto had a point. Naruto then made his favorite gesture and two clones popped into existence. One neatly sitting in Naruto's chair and the other dumping a stack of paper in front of him.

"I wanna go with Sasuke." He whined. Naruto fondly flicked its ear then turned back to Sasuke.

"Satisfied, bastard?" Naruto looked smug.

"Hurry up." Sasuke said walking out and not looking back.

********************************                                

The maximum security cells were dark, dry and bare earth, several floors underground where sunlight could not reach and not even a trace of sound from the city above could be heard. Sasuke's eyes had lingered on the door to the cell he had been locked away in for a year when he had returned to Konoha. Naruto moved in front of him, blocking his sight of it and tugging him forward gently. Sasuke saw Naruto's jaw tic and the same ocean night surface that Sasuke had seen when they reunited in the physical world overtook Naruto's eyes. Sasuke enjoyed the proximity for a few steps before slowly leaning away. Naruto accepted the distance though Sasuke could see the reluctance. Warmth blossomed in Sasuke's chest and a weight that felt much like inevitability settled in Sasuke's stomach. He chose to ignore it for now.

They arrived at the Otsutsuki's cell. Sasuke felt the weight of seals upon seals layered in the room. She stood in the centre of the cell, stock still, hands bound behind her back. Stark white hair fell over her shoulders messily, a stark contrast to the neat bun it had been when Sasuke had first encountered her on the battlefield.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up, Uchiha Sasuke. And you came with your pet." She said looking up for the first time. Her voice had layers to it as if more than one voice was speaking producing an odd minute echo. Her eyes shone the pale blue-gray of the byaakugan with blood shot scelera indicating deep internal bleeding, possibly a result of the mental shock of Sasuke's yin attack. White hair momentarily tried float but was overcome by the weight of the seals. Naruto jerked when she looked at him, Sasuke focused on not reacting at all.

"How do you know my name?" Sasuke murmured.

"I was in Naruto's head. Of course I know your name. I know all that he knows and even that which he doesn't know he knows." She kept her gaze directed at Naruto who glared back.

"Why are you here?" Naruto said keeping his voice level. 

"Do you not want to know my name? I know so much about you. I only want to return the favour. Don't you want to try be friends?" The woman said mockingly. Her head tilted in a parody of empathy and the juvenile optimism reminiscent of Naruto's younger days.

"It doesn't matter." Sasuke said in a bored monotone. She looked at him for a few seconds, animosity growing in her eyes into something deadly and nasty; a hatred that made her eyes burn bright.

"Otsutsuki Akumu." Her hair flared a bit again.

"Stop flaring about. You are pathetic." Sasuke scoffed. Her hair continued to float. Her veins became faintly prominent.

"You only subdued me because you barbarians took my Rinnegan."

"Barbaric? Coming from a clan that eats the chakra of their own?" Sasuke taunted.

"Coming from a boy that stole his last relatives eyes," Akumu whipped back. Sasuke eyes narrowed dangerously. Naruto moved closer to him but Sasuke paid him no heed.

"You are truly fit to bear the Rinnegan!" Akumu crowed her hair settling back onto her shoulders.

"And I will rip it out of you." She finished menacingly.

"You wouldn't be the first to try and you won't be the last: Otsutsuki or otherwise." Sasuke said softly.

Akumu laughed hoarsely.

"The arrogance! You haven't even fought a true warrior of the Otsutsuki. Kaguya was a prisoner on the run. Momoshinki was a scout. I am a spy. Even then, to defeat us you could not do it on your own."

"We can take you." Naruto said stepping closer to the bars.

"Stupid. No wonder Boruto called you a useless -" her words cut of as Sasuke's Rinnegan appeared in her eyes. The genjutsu he cast wasn't meant to be strong but brutal to the mind. It was formed of both Sasuke's anger and desire to cause her pain. With the seals on her, she had little in the way of defense. Her mental landscape while enormous was a disarray of scars and a huge gaping hole from Sasuke's yin attack. Sasuke widened the gap like someone ripping open a bigger hole in clothes.

"Know your place." Sasuke growled. Akumu threw off the genjutsu after a few moments of wordless screaming. Sasuke and Naruto were walking out when she called out.

"I promise, I will cut you and your entire family down, just like your brother did! Believe it!" She cackled.

Naruto slammed the door shut. Sasuke stalked down the hallway, willing his blood to stop its upward ascent towards to boiling.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called out. Sasuke slowed.

"Hey Sas," Naruto caught up and gripped his arm.

"Hey," Naruto whispered rubbing circles on Sasuke's arm and massaging Sasuke's shoulder with the other while trying to make eye contact.

"Hey," Naruto repeated with a small comforting smile when he finally caught Sasuke's gaze. It felt like a cool breeze after a trek through the desert.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked. Naruto blinked at him a few times.

"Am I ok? I'm not the... you know what? Nevermind." Naruto said in gusty exhale. They stayed like that for a while.

"You need to get back to work."

"I will. What about you?" Naruto hummed.

"Got to find a way to deal with the criminal underground activity." Sasuke hummed back. The distance between them was rapidly turning to nothing again.

"Teme, you need to rest." Naruto reasoned as he drew Sasuke in for a hug. Sasuke went willingly, the emotions rose like an ocean tide and crashed into Sasuke's heart.

"I will." Naruto made a disbelieving noise. Sasuke smirked and pulled back looking into Naruto's eyes. The poor lighting still left them a deep dark turbulent hue.  Sasuke's hand reached out of its own accord toward Naruto's cheek. Sasuke diverted its course to poke Naruto on the forehead instead. Sasuke's emotions weren't done with him yet it seemed. High tide was approaching.

"I will." Sasuke promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first scene just grew and grew until i decided some parts needed to be cut out and brought back in later. for those who were thirsty for romantic tension, sorry we had plot building . so much more political backstabbing to be done.  
> Shikamaru and Sasuke's relationship is not the usual you see in fics i think.  
> Naruto these last few chapters has been quietly frustrated with sasuke's behaviour because the growing romantic attachment to sas compounded by his epic desire to bear/erase Sasuke's pain resultis in misplaced guilt which is also further enhanced when Sasuke does his "protect Naruto first" stunts(as you guys can tell, Sasuke is very much dealing with everything else but the Uchiha scandal). Naruto is not oblivious/ignorant to the changes occurring between them he just isnt concerned with where its headed. yet.  
> things to look forward to:  
> oh we will be exploring the byakugan and the secrets of the Hyuuga (that made the Caged Bird seal necessary) soon as well, guess who bumped into these in their travels.  
> a chapter titled: Sasuke's Soliloquy and the ensuing interlude from Naruto's Pov.  
> P.S im trying to make these notes shorter but there is so much to say.


	12. Conversation under a half moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry. I forgot to say I'm on vacation right now so chapters will be coming out a bit slower. *nervous grinning*

  
His new Rinnegan had its perks, Sasuke decided. The range of his Amenotejikara had increased along with his ability to use the Six Paths. His affinity still lay with the Deva Path, probably because of his eyes more innate understanding of space-time he guessed.

As soon as he had returned from his self assigned mission of reducing the rate of criminal activity by the syndicates described by Shikamaru, Sasuke had felt the sight of several Hyuuga pin onto him. It felt much like the Byaakugan locked onto what it wanted to observe and then stripped away all the physical barriers in its path. The act of chakra metaphorically tagging him was what alerted Sasuke to the spying. Nevermind that it was almost midnight or that Sasuke was of no use to them in their Hyuuga political shenanigans.

Sasuke picked a point in Naruto's office, which was sealed against the Byakuugan, and used Amenotejikara to place himself in there. Sasuke would have placed the same seals in his home but all that would do is invite more elaborate attempts at espionage.

Sasuke appeared in front of Naruto's desk. There were no lights on in the room. The only light was the dim silver glow of the half moon painting the world in shades of grey and shadow. The light came in from behind Naruto giving his hair an ivory hue and casting Naruto's face in shadow.

Even in the dark, Naruto looked haggard. A man who had a nigh on limitless supply of chakra looked drained. The sight had Sasuke on alert. Sasuke knew the root of this was psychological. He had been gone for a few days, a week at most. What had happened?

"Sasuke? What are you doing here? It's... late. Couldn't get enough of me huh?" Naruto's voice was gruff and the wrong tone for his usual jesting. The joke fell flat when Sasuke made no response to it. Sasuke saw Naruto's fake smile fade into a grim line.

"How was... whatever it is you were doing? Boy, if the Council knew you basically did whatever you wanted." Naruto forced a chuckle. Sasuke still didn't respond, he knew what he wanted to say wouldn't be received well. Yet, to go along with whatever facade Naruto was trying to put on seemed so...wrong. Sasuke moved around the desk to stand beside Naruto. Naruto tensed visibly. Sasuke sighed and sat on the desk facing the opposite direction out of the window to Konoha below them. The silence drew on and Sasuke was comfortable just dwelling in it.

"Did you feel anything during... your divorce?" The question was loaded. Immediately, Sasuke felt himself on edge. His first instinct was to put distance between himself and Naruto but he stayed where he was, gripping the edge of Naruto's desk tightly.

"Do you think I felt nothing?"

"No, teme." Naruto sighed. Sasuke swore he could hear Naruto mutter, 'could have fooled me though.'

"Let me rephrase that, what did you feel when you divorced Sakura?" Sasuke was silent for a while. Anger sweeping through him like a storm that he rode out valiantly. He stepped away from the desk and approached the window, staring out to Konoha's midnight stillness. He could see Naruto's form still looking into the darkness. Sasuke looked to the half-moon for inspiration before taking a leap.

"Look Sas-"

"I felt like a failure." Naruto had started rising out of his chair only to freeze at the words. Sasuke bitterly wondered if Naruto thought Sasuke would say relieved, happy or free. Everyone else seemed to think so.

"We tried to make it work. Contrary to popular belief, I tried but the more we bent ourselves backwards the harder it got. I could not pretend. Sakura couldn't either."

The longer they were married, the less they were themselves and more of a shadow of who they wanted to be.

"I thought myself either incapable of love like that or incapable of sustaining it. I felt guilty because... I knew when I married Sakura that I was going to be terrible but I...hoped I was wrong." Briefly Sasuke closed his eyes, pushing back the emotion that threatened to burst into being. He could feel it dancing over his skin like static. Hope. It kept the broken from being utterly lost and kept his heart from drifting deep into the dark. It persevered and kept his heart beating. Painfully.

When Sasuke opened his eyes, he saw Naruto's reflection facing him, half his face illuminated by moonlight and the other obscured by shadow: the two divided by diagonal line that went between Naruto's eyes. His hair shone a glinting ivory and his eye was steel blue. It was such a foreign perception of Naruto that Sasuke felt slightly taken aback.

"You and Sakura were never ones for pretense." Naruto said, his voice having an odd wondering tone to it. It niggled Sasuke's attention.

"I've been asking myself over and over what went wrong in my marriage. Hinata and I were so desperate to be happy, to have something we called ours. " Naruto's voice was painfully nostalgic.

"We ignored the issues and differences between us in favour maintaining the peace. The issues and the distance grew until it wasn't just maintaining the peace. It was pretending." The last word came out a derisive snort.

"Hinata is a wonderful person. An amazing woman and mother. But we can't claim to know each other at all anymore. I don't think we ever could. Trying to be intimate with someone so far from you..."

Sasuke remembered the feeling. Reaching for warmth only to feel a winter chill worm it's way through you instead. Where each moment of intimacy had to be prepared for, like one does before diving into an icy pool. Sasuke turned back to face Naruto.

"I just wanted everyone to be happy." Naruto said stepping fully into the light, looking at Sasuke beseechingly. Sasuke's heart went out to him. Sasuke stepped forward, his own face now covered completely in shadow.

"They still can be. Things don't have to be perfect for people to be happy." Sasuke said softly. Naruto looked at him, an impish smile overtaking his features.

"That's awfully optimistic of you, Mr. Doom and Gloom."

"I've learned a few things, Dobe." Sasuke smirked as Naruto chuckled. You cannot erase the world's pain, pain had it's place along with free will.

"Hmm... enough of that. I'm tired of being sad. Tell me about this mission of yours."

"I convinced the Crime Lord to stop his activities in the Land of Fire." Sasuke said conversationally. Naruto didn't relax.

"Convinced? You. Convinced someone?" Naruto laughed quietly leaning back into his chair.

"Hn, Yes." Sasuke smirked. Convincing him had included stealing all his files then razing the place to the ground all while keeping his identity hiddden. Sasuke had... fun.

He spoke of how he prepared for the mission. He couldn't be recognized as being part of the Leaf or being Uchiha Sasuke in general. That meant a disguise, no Sharingan, no Rinnegan, no chidori and no kusanagi. He pretended that his chakra nature was water. It posed an interesting challenge to Sasuke, having to not rely on his usual techniques. Naruto just called him a masochist.

The first thing Sasuke had done was to find evidence of the syndicates activities. What he found had been as damning as it had been concerning. The criminal empire stretched across the five shinobi nations, having its major operations based within smaller countries and effectively controlling their governments. The crimes ranged from petty theft to human trafficking. Sasuke had decided there and then to collect the evidence and burn the place entirely to the ground. Naruto agreed with the assessment, if the empire was that large and well established they could not have any trace of whom was onto them. It was fortuitous that Sasuke's mission was already off-book and that they were meeting with the other Kages soon.

To Sasuke, it had been oddly what he had needed. Fighting in an absolutely different style with two arms again made him so aware of the moment that all the underlying tension building up within him bled away. He pretended to sloppy at some points to throw his opponents off.

"I don't think you needed to be thorough, overachiever." Naruto teased.

"I did. The last thing you need is rumours of an out of control Uchiha under your watch, Dobe." Sasuke said seriously.

"Oh come on teme, they wouldn't do anything! Just complain like the sad old grandparents they are." Naruto laughed. Sasuke raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Naruto, I left on my own mission without backup and without anyone to verify my story. The last that the Council was aware of me doing that, I ended up killing a Council member and trying to kill the kages. They wouldn't just complain." Sasuke said flatly.

"You said that just to sound cool." Naruto narrowed his eyes, mirth still dancing in them.

"Besides, you are a hero to the younger generation. The rogue, who follows no rules and survived battles with Kages. I think they're gonna make a movie out of it!"

"What the hell, Dobe. I thought you only released information pertaining to the Uchiha massacre. " Sasuke said exasperated. He did not need attention. He operated in the shadows. Naruto laughed gleefully.

"Believe it! I even saw some kids covering their eyes with their bangs!" Naruto continued laughing. Sasuke could see the steel cold look on Naruto's melt into a mesmerizing liquid mercury gaze. Sasuke wasn't happy with the development but he still couldn't help but smile at seeing Naruto laughing again. Naruto caught his gaze as his snickers died down. They shared a moment just enjoying the warmth between them. Then Naruto's eyes became intense, the warmth within them smouldering. Naruto stepped closer till they were just a few breaths apart.

"I wanted people to get to know you and all that you've done for Konoha. The parts we tend to gloss over y'know." Naruto murmured.

"Hn." Sasuke wouldn't call it glossing over, more like it got lost in the din of his rather lengthy list of crimes.

"It's not going to make me any more likeable." Sasuke murmured back.

"Maybe not. But it'll get people to respect you. Besides," Naruto stayed forward as if being pulled by some unseen force.

"All the important people you need, like you already." Sasuke found himself inching ever closer as a low laugh rumbled in his chest.

"Important?" Sasuke asked rhetorically. Naruto rolled his eyes as the two were now side by side, swinging past each other, orbiting each other like binary stars.

"You are such a bastard." Naruto grinned.

"Believe it!" Sasuke mocked. Naruto stepped into Sasuke's space. They were breathing the same superheated air now. Each quiet exhale fluttering against the others face like a ghostly caress. Sasuke peered into Narutos eyes now once again cast in shadow. Naruto's eyes were searching his for something, though Sasuke could not tell if they found it.

"Do you really, teme?" Naruto asked. His face was turned to Sasuke, a tiny sliver of his face being occluded by the dark. The energy between them had shifted and veered off-course again. Sasuke always considered his attraction to Naruto something inevitable, much like the outcome at the Valley of the End. It was briefly alluded to during and after their fight where Naruto admitted a similar feeling on his end. That was all it was meant to be, an unexplainable attraction. But since the genjutsu, it had solidified; gained an almost tangible weight to it. It was difficult to tell if Naruto was just riding the wave of whatever lay between them or if he was consciously pushing the boundaries. To what end though?

"You said it yourself, Dobe. I am not one for pretense." Sasuke murmured. He hoped Naruto understood. Naruto hummed lowly, one hand going to Sasuke's shoulder and sliding down to his chest just above Sasuke's heart and grabbing a fistful of Sasuke's shirt. Naruto lowered his head looking at Sasuke's chest.

With a deep breath, Naruto stepped back turning to face the view of Konoha by the window. Sasuke went to Naruto's desk and his eyes went straight to the paper by the chair. Even in the dark, Sasuke could make out the emboldened title of divorce papers. Sasuke's eyes drifted to Naruto by the window, he could see Naruto's reflection looking at him: blank expression, dull grey eyes and ivory hair. Sasuke found the last page and what he guessed Hinata's and Naruto's signatures, a flash of the sharingan revealed the signatures were dated today, or rather yesterday considering the time. Sasuke approached Naruto, a plan already in his mind. He place his hand on Naruto shoulder and pictured his room.

The two reappeared in the room before the bed. Naruto startled briefly.

"Hey! What the hell, bastard? Where are we?"

"You need a place to sleep that is not your office, loser." Naruto was indignant.

"Yeah and I have place!"

"Oh, where?" Naruto's eyes darted around a bit.

"My old place. I bought it back." Sasuke could not hide the disgust that flashed across his face. The place was small, terrible and a reminder of loneliness Naruto did not need right now. Seriously, who let Naruto do these things?

"Oi, you haughty prick-" Naruto's voice was climbing in volume and register. Sasuke clapped Naruto's mouth shut and murmured dangerously.

"People are sleeping you idiot. Do you really want your kids to see you live there? Of all places, do you want to be alone there again?" The words hit home much more and far sharper than Sasuke intended. Naruto ripped away Sasuke's hand from his mouth, eyes stormy.

"Where are we?" Naruto's tone was curt.

"The Uchiha compound."

"Which house?" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Mine." Naruto looked back at him. Sasuke was finding more and more faces of Naruto's that he could not decipher. Sasuke felt guilty for pushing Naruto like this.

"Look," Sasuke began softly, "I can't make you stay here and I won't try but you need to sleep somewhere that isn't your office or your old apartment."

Naruto didn't say anything but his eyes were swirling deep blue tempests. There was so much in there, Sasuke didn't know where to even begin. Sasuke sighed looking away, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"I'm going to sleep. If you want to leave you can find your way out." Sasuke left the room before Naruto could make a response. A few steps away from his room, Sasuke sighed again.

He was so bad at all of this.

But Sasuke would be damned if he didn't stop trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah right. Sorry for delay. 1st 2 drafts resembled other characters from an entirely different universe so I had to try again.
> 
> We will deal with Sasuke's high-handedness I promise! and his avoidance of the changes in the Uchiha situation. You find that Sasuke finds Naruto odd in this chapter and that is an allusion to the fact that Naruto isn't as easy to understand as he thought.
> 
> Yeah, Naruto has been dealt a couple of rough cards recently, near death, divorce but you know mister sunshine will pull through. He is frustrated though, Sasuke can be such a considerate loving inconsiderate a***. Sas is trying so hard to be the supportive friend but such simultaneous failure and success is a technique only he knows


	13. Sasuke's  Soliloquy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, the words in italics are actually spoken out loud by Sasuke in this chapter.

 Sleep never came easy to Sasuke, not since he was seven. He had to approach the state of sleep gingerly; letting reality slide slowly out of his grasp into a peaceful slumber. Anything else resulted in a rapid plummet into twisted nightmarish memories and possibilities that left him bursting into wakefulness heart pounding and body wound tight as a spring unable to sleep again. Easing himself into sleep had its own downsides of course. Sasuke was prone to prolonged rumination in the silence before sleep. Sometimes the rumination lasted into the early hours of the morning. other times, Sasuke would give up on all pretenses of sleep and instead place himself in deep meditation.

Tonight was such a night. It was already late by the time Sasuke closed the door to the guest bedroom with Naruto inside. Sasuke could feel the agitation simmering on both sides of the door. Sasuke moved to his own room quietly, sliding the door shut then lingering silently letting the agitation die down before turning to face his room. Sleep was definitely out of the question.

Naruto. The fool. That special infuriating fool.

Sasuke was trying to be helpful and a good friend, yet everything felt like it would teeter further off course with every interaction. Sasuke could very well see where they were headed. So could Naruto he was certain. There were times when the two would be talking and something in Naruto's eyes would change and Sasuke would vividly recall the kisses they shared in the genjutsu. Each kiss searing itself into Sasuke's being regardless of its intensity, emotion or delivery. Each kiss held a heavy truth to it that Sasuke knew was only because he was kissing Naruto. It had only been three kisses. It could have been a million and the feeling would be the same: never be enough. Sasuke could not find the will within himself to be walking away from what was between them. Even before this side of their bond had become more apparent, Sasuke had been unable to turn away from it. He had always dealt in inevitabilities, and their bond had felt like one of them. What was it that made them so tightly bound? He doubted their previous soulmate incarnations had been like this.

Should their paths continue on this trajectory, what would they do? Life wasn't so simple or so kind as to allow them to simply dive head first into their desires. That would be what Naruto would be inclined to do, Sasuke thought. Sasuke could not blame him. There were families, politics and duties to consider.The entire situation was...dangerous. It had always been.

Sasuke could not see himself feeling any different. He could not imagine choosing a path different from the path he was on now. He loved Naruto deeply: without an ounce of reservation or common sense. Even with the fear of losing that which was dear to him clawing away at his heart, Sasuke marched forward with eyes wide open and bated breath. The moment would come to them in time and then...

The thoughts swirled in his mind incomplete and building fantasies off of optimistic conjecture. Naruto always inspired that desperate sort of reaching in him. Sasuke let the thoughts come and go like a breeze that swept past and circled him; there one moment and gone the next. The worry and frustration receded to a small echo of what it had been. Sasuke found rest, if only for a little while.

Morning came quickly. The dark gave way to dawn and light streamed into Sasuke's room in bright beams illuminating tiny particles of suspended dust. In the simpler morning moments of Sasuke's life, few as they were, Sasuke had activated his Sharingan at a time like this and watched with wonder as dust particles became more defined and their still suspension evolved into a wildly intricate dance to the whims of an undetectable breeze. Where others would see random movement, Sasuke saw amazing dynamic patterns that stretched across hundreds of particles before a repetition. That tiny moment in that narrow beam of light became larger than life to Sasuke, a tiny universe in and of itself.

The moments never lasted and this one did not. Sasuke was a busy man after all. He made his way to the main kitchen where he found Sakura nursing a cup of coffee and Sarada reading the news on her phone while eating some cereal. Quiet greetings where shared all around. Sasuke marveled at how his family had turned out similarly to his childhood home. They were all moving in different directions; Sasuke as the Shadow Kage, Sarada pursuing the role of future Hokage and Sakura as a world leading medical nin and sannin. In all this they were still connected as family. Always.

"How is Naruto? Hinata told me they signed the papers yesterday." Sakura said.

"He'll be fine. He wanted to sleep in his office last night."

"I thought he moved into a new place."Sakura said pursing her lips. Sarada was quietly paying attention to the conversation about her mentor.

"It's his old place." Sasuke answered.

"He said he wanted something familiar." Sarada added in. Sakura shook her head slowly and murmured,

"That place is the wrong type of familiar." Sasuked hummed in agreement. Sarada looked at them both quizzically.

"In any case, I don't think he will wake up soon. You think he'll stay for a meal?" Sakura said. Sasuke felt for Naruto's chakra and found it steady, stable and very close by. The erratiic undertone that had been buzzing whenever Sasuke had felt for it had faded: it was somewhat peaceful now.Naruto had stayed.

Sasuke shrugged in response to Sakura's question. He hadn't expected Naruto to stay in the room let alone sleep in it for the rest of the night. Naruto could stay as long as he needed to.

A quiet knock interrupted the trio from their morning. The three looked at each other blankly in silent question. The Uchiha rarely received visitors, even rarer an unexpected one. Sarada stood to answer the door as Sasuke felt for the chakra of the individual there. The chakra was familiar, decently trained and skilled. No effort had been made to conceal it.

"Konohamaru-sensei, what can I do for you?" Sarada greeted at the door still within earshot.

"Hey Sarada...is... your dad...around?" Sakura and Sasuke stilled. Sakura looked at him with quiet concern, Sasuke kept his face as neutral as possible. He stood and quietly made his way to the door, Sakura's footsteps trailed slowly behind. Konohamaru's eyes widened a fraction when he saw Sasuke. Then his face hardened, etched by determination.

"Lord Uchiha," Konohamaru began as he bowed.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke interrupted. There was a heaviness building up within Sasuke winding itself tightly around his own chest. Konohamaru's throat bobbed before he continued,

"I wish to extend--"

"Why are you here?" Sasuke cut off harshly his voice deepening. Sarada looked at him with a frown, Sakura now stood beside him. Konohamaru tensed.

"I grew up with tales of you from Naruto-sensei. He spoke of you with wonder and far too much fondness for someone whose supposed to be their rival and enemy. You saved me. I watched you destroy an asteroid with a single blow. For all the darkness I've heard of, I've seen you protect this city and it's people without any recognition or reward--"

"Stand up." Sasuke would not hear anymore. The young nin had never seen Sasuke at his worst. He had never seen what Sasuke could have become.The sincerity in Konohamaru's words were blows to Sasuke's chest. Sasuke had no business feeling like this. He would not hear any more.

"Lord Uchiha, please." Konohamaru's fists were clenched by his sides.

"Konohamaru, stand up." Sasuke aimed for a gentler tone. Sarada put a hand on her former teachers shoulder. He stood upright a fire burning in dark eyes. Konohamaru may have obeyed Sasuke but the man was clearly not backing down. Not yet.

A boy, Sasuke corrected. A foolish noble boy. He reminded Sasuke of Naruto, which wasn't a surprise.

"Come with me." Sasuke said walking past Konohanaru out into the compound. Without turning to check if Konohamaru was following him, Sasuke continued his steady gait to the Uchiha cemetery. Sasuke had the route memorised, he'd walked it every week for four years before he'd left Konoha. Things had changed since then. Houses had been rebuilt, a few brave people had moved in. Sakura was planning on building a hospital within the Uchiha district. There was already an orphanage, one that dealt with children from outside Konoha sent in usually by Karin through Juugo and Suigetsu. For Sasuke, the buildings would never replace the quiet ruined houses that immortalized the picture of his family slain and Sasuke alone in. Piece by piece, new dreams were being built over the monuments of horror that would one day only exist in Sasuke's memories and die with him. That is how it should be.

They came to the Uchiha cemetery, the place had an unnatural stillness to it. Rows upon rows of impersonal plaques in the ground: no one had been there to argue the injustice of it. No one cared to. The locals had fenced the graveyard in an effort to contain the darkness within. Everyone was scared to taint themselves with this sin and the curse that had befallen the Uchiha. Everyone that is except those who stood to gain something from it. The place was overrun with weeds and grass, half the plaques were obscured by dead decaying grass. The place was being forgotten. Sasuke could not muster the rage or indignation. If he could forget without betraying his fallen family, he would. Konohamaru was clearly uncomfortable with the state of the place and the situation but he stepped in and waited a few steps behind Sasuke.

"Your words are worthless, what do you hope to accomplish?" Sasuke did not care if he sounded callous.Genuine though Konokamaru's words may be, of what use were they to Sasuke? The words did not soothe any pain or mend any bridges. The words could not undo what had happened.

Konohamaru may have been the third Hokage's grandson but he was not the clan heir. Politically, it was an insult, but Sasuke guessed the Sarutobi's were testing the waters before any public statements were made. Konohanaru was his daughters teacher and Naruto's former student. It was less likely that he would harm Konohamaru out of all the Sarutobi's. Not that Sasuke planned on harming any of them. Still, he guessed they would never believe that without proof.

Konohamaru did not waiver at Sasuke's comment.

"I want to clear the conscience of the Sarutobi people, to regain our honour." Sasuke bit back the agitation that coursed through him. The frustration at having to deal with this again and again. Nothing changed.

"My forgiveness will not change that."

"But it is a step in the right direction."

"And what is this right direction?" Konohamaru paused for a moment.

"I don't know," Konohamaru admitted, "but I know right now that this is the right thing to do." Sasuke barked out an empty laugh.

"You claim to want to restore honour to the Sarutobi clan yet you act no different than the same man who let this happen." Sasuke huffed out tiredly. It was pointless, everything was. Why did he even try?

"What would you have me do, Uchiha-san?" Konohamaru grit out.

Sasuke remained quiet. He looked at the man before him, really looked. Konohamaru was young, unmarred by the wars and the worst of Konoha's political intrigue. He was bright, chivalrous and optimistic. Konohamaru was a part of the future that Sasuke wished they would turn towards. Sasuke stepped toward the younger man.

"Watch." Sasuke made the tiger seal, gathered the chakra slowly in and blew out a strong flame all over the graveyard. The fire wasn't inteense, just enough for the overgrowth to catch and start to burn away. The katon had been a pride of the Uchiha, a symbol of the fiery passion that burned within each of them. Surrounded by so many fire natures, the Uchiha had felt like a hearthfire in Sasuke's younger years. After the massacre, the heat and warmth in the compound was gone. It felt like the deep dark drenches of an endless cave. Sasuke turned to Konohamaru and looked him in the eye.

"Carry the legacy of the Uchiha. Let it never be forgotten by Konoha and the world; what they were, what they lost and why." Konohamaru looked at him bewildered and confused.

"Mr. Uchiha I don't--"

"Will you do it?" Sasuke repeated. Konohamaru would learn, would reason and whatever his conclusions were he would pass them on. Konohamaru paused, then coming to a decision he bowed and vowed,

"Yes, I will, Sasuke-sensei. To my utmost ability." Sasuke nodded and turned away from him.

" There is nothing else to be said. Go find your peace." Konohamaru's chakra flickered away and Sasuke felt the tiniest bit relieved.

Sasuke moved through the cemetery unperturbed by the fire growing around him. He came to a stop at his parents plaques, something about the little metal plates finally snapping something within him. His voice came out barely a whisper.

 _"You can rest now. It is finished._  
_Your eyes, your heart, your legacy_  
_Are where they finally belong._  
_I am sorry, I failed you all._  
_For so long."_

Sasuke turned to the images in the flickering flames burning away grass and weeds. Leaving nothing behind but ash, soot and a field of memorial plaques. There were so many: Family, friends, nin, civilians...children. One plaque was different from the rest, added much later than the others. Sasuke walked to it. He felt the weight of it hang on his shoulders and threaten to pull him under. The sorrow and desperation swelled within Sasuke something awful, ugly that crashed against the prison Sasuke had built for it. Sasuke could feel himself splintering against the force of its waves like a ship succumbing to the force of the ocean.

 _"You asked me and I hated you!_  
_Even when it tore out my heart,_  
_Broke my will to live and drove me_  
_To the deepest, darkest recess_  
_Where nothing can live or die._  
_Still! After all that, I loved you._  
_Gods above be true, I love you!_  
_You made me your sacrifice._  
_Before the blood of our fam'ly_  
_You left me betrayed and alone,_  
_A prize to be coveted by all._  
_I lost love and I lost all hope._  
_I was seven...and you BROKE me._  
_Yet even then, if you asked me_  
_I would have forgiven it all."_

 _"Now I burn endlessly with love_  
_Unfulfilled and hate barely tamed._  
_I will endure it hopelessly_  
_And live in my own legacy._  
_It is enough. It has to be._  
_I know I'm not what you wish._  
_I am sorry._  
_And if you had ever loved me._  
_You would let me go."_

 _"Konoha has its glorious peace._ _You have your legacy._ _Please...just let me go."_  
  
The Mangekyo burst to life in a haze of power the brought Sasuke to his knees. Chakra flooded his eyes impossibly and for the first time in years, Sasuke felt the welling of blood in his eyes. The Rinnegan DNA was already repairing his nervous system from the influx of power, creating a painful cycle of simultaneous burning out and regeneration. The flames around Sasuke roared back to life as they were fed by Sasuke's chakra.

Sasuke reached out with hand to control the flames similar to his Kagutsuchi technique and used the tiger seal compressed the flames into a flaming hawk that circled him quietly. It was a jutsu Sasuke had been playing with for a while, trying to apply the shape transformation principles of Kagutsuchi to normal fire techniques. Sasuke stood back up and looked to the sky.

  
_"You have done well my dear brother_  
_Go now and truly find your rest._  
_May your next life be good and kind_  
_Maybe by then I'll earn the right_  
_To finally walk by your side_  
_It is all I'd ever wanted."_

Sasuke took a deep breath and blew an enormous fire ball into the sky. Hot air rushed past him in mighty gusts as he blew and Sasuke was partially blinded by the light and searing heat. The fire hawk circled the fireball and flickered out of existence as the fireball died out. The heat lingered in the air. Traces of ash fell back to the earth, having been blown away by the expansion of rapidly heated air.

Footsteps alerted Sasuke to the presence of someone nearby. He turned to find Naruto approaching, worried but hiding it behind his quicker than usual steps. The world was still way too sharp, Sasuke could see the different shades of blue in Naruto's and feel the expansions and contraction of his pupil as if they had a pulse of their own. When Naruto lifted his bandaged arm to wipe the trail of blood off of his face, Sasuke felt the texture of soft worn cloth and the skin behind it. When Naruto gravitated incrementally into Sasuke's personal space and then seemingly stopped himself from completely stepping into Sasuke's space as if struck back by an invisible object, Sasuke noticed.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke whispered. His voice was hoarse, overused, fractured and low.

"Teme, where else would I be?" Naruto breathed with an equally quiet laugh. His eyes shone in the bright morning light, something tender and sorrowful. The world dimmed back to it's less lustrous version as Sasuke's Mangekyou deactivated.

"Hn." Sasuke felt a smile on his face at the comment and looked up to the sky. Today was different from yesterday but he would go on as he did before, fighting for hope.

  
_"Indeed, where else would hope be._  
_But adamantly here with me,_  
_standing at the end of all things._  
_A lone candle against the dark."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we have Sasuke's soliloquy which marks the half way point of Sasuke's pov.  
> I touched the dreaded Itachi concept.  
> This was difficult for me because my feelings towards Itachi aren't like Sasuke's. Thats not to say I hate itachi, i just think Sasuke should be more bitter in a way. In this chapter, he is rejecting Itachi's last offer of being with Sasuke regardless of what path he chose. Sasuke is saying, "No, in this lifetime we are done. I love you and I always will but i am not yours, or the Uchiha's anymore." Exploring this part of Sasuke's psyche always leaves me very anti-Konoha and this fic isnt about pointing fingers at who is to blame, neither is Sasuke's Soliloquy.  
> Next up, the Intermission Chapter from Naruto's pov. It explores this exact scene just from his perspective because in this moment Sasuke is thoroughly emotionally occupied.


	14. Intermission (Naruto POV): "Forswear it sight!"*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Title is a quote from Romeo and Juliet. As ridiculous as that story is, the portrayal of human emotion in words there is amazing.
> 
> The italics in this chapter are NOT spoken words. 
> 
> Have at it, readers!

 Sasuke could be so infuriating! So bossy, so condescending so...Naruto muffled his exasperated groans into the pillow.

Naruto knew this side of Sasuke from the get go, yet it never failed to irk him. It wasn't that Sasuke actions were hurtful or selfish, they were the opposite actually, it was the way in which Sasuke went about things that drove Naruto up the wall. Sasuke's direct and decisive behaviour gave his actions a sharper, more brutish edge than what the gesture usually conveyed. Naruto never forgot the sting he'd felt when Sasuke had rejected the idea of investigating Kaguya's dimensions together. Sasuke's reasoning had been sound, considerate of Naruto's then new role as Hokage and the alliance the five shinobi nations were trying to create, but Sasuke had rejected the idea blithely as if Naruto were nothing more than an annoying student trying to tag along on a mission only to be a liability on said mission

Ironically, Sasuke's headstrong nature was one that Naruto greatly admired and envied. He relied and found security in it. When they fought together, Naruto was comfortable with letting Sasuke come up with the plans and watch his back. Naruto was able to immerse himself in the thrill of the moment, confident in their ability to face anything together.

Naruto had never met anyone else whose convictions were so strong the ideas held an almost physical presence to them. By the force of his convictions, Sasuke stood toe to toe with monsters, talked down gods, demons and stared down inevitable defeat without so much as a flinch. Sasuke's convictions weren't simple nor were they easy but Gods did they make the man that bore them powerful.

Naruto rolled over and faced the ceiling, giving a deep sigh. Many things weighed on his mind that he couldn't necessarily push away, even before the divorce was finalised. The declassification of the Uchiha massacre had muted tensions within the Hyuuga somewhat as the two branches were struggling to pick a side that could advance their cause. There was Himawari, his daughter, caught in the clash of wills of the warring branches and beyond Naruto's ability to intervene. It had been hard enough when she had to move in with Hanabi to train her Byaakugan. It had never occurred to Naruto just how segregated the Hyuuga were until he saw Hima's friends change practically overnight. She stopped hanging out with her old friends and all her friends now had the Hyuuga trademark dark hair and pale eyes. It was startling to say the least, but Hima enjoyed learning her heritage (something Naruto could not provide.) Himawari was proud to be a part of the Hyuuga clan, until she got caught up in the politics.

Now, Naruto barely saw her and both Hima and Hinata were always quick to remind him that he didn't understand what was at stake within the Hyuuga. Sure,Naruto couldn't understand what was at stake as doing so would be infringing on the secrets of the Hyuuga rising a civil war but she was his daughter. He wouldn't stop trying to be there for her, he had messed enough times in the past. Naruto would not slide into that habit again.

Hinata said she was handling it.Naruto believed her. Hinata loved their children fiercely. Divorce aside, Naruto was certain without a shadow of doubt that Hinata would protect their kids. He and Hinata may have become estranged, but their unity regarding heir kids would always be true. That didn't stop the fear and worry from stirring in his stomach.

Naruto used work as a distraction. He pushed through the mountains of work in his office using the newfound vigor from his time in the genjutsu. The Council where miffed that their plot to drown Naruto in bureaucracy didn't work but they still pointed out that Naruto should have always been this zealous with his duties. Naruto had smirked, citing Sasuke as the influence. Shikamaru had been impressed and joked that Sasuke should place Naruto in a genjutsu more often. Naruto had grumbled halfheartedly. Though he would never admit it out loud, Naruto missed the simplicity of the genjutsu and the constant steadiness of Sasuke by his side that it had provided. It was easier.

Naruto sighed again as his thoughts returned to Sasuke. The man had been all over the place lately; sneaking messages to the other Kage, covertly bringing down criminal syndicates and unsubtly avoiding all talk of the Uchiha revelation. Not that any of this was new or particularly difficult for Sasuke. It was just... Naruto wanted to do more for him, be there for him, support him in the way that he did Naruto. But the bastard made it so difficult, standing there all dark and mysterious, sweeping away all pain under a rug  and rebuffing attempts to help as if they were an inconvenience to everyone else, including him.

Naruto's fists clenched as he huffed and violently turned onto his side on the bed. How could he make Sasuke understand? How did one make a man who had relied on himself for so long realise that Naruto wasn't just there by the sidelines or a goal? He wanted to be by Sasuke's side in the thick of things: a partner, helping and protecting Sasuke in his own goals. Even if Naruto wasn't there physically, he would be damned if he didn't do his absolute best even if it was from the Hokage's office.

Naruto fell asleep with dreams of simpler moments with Sasuke where everything miraculously sorted itself out and everyone was happy. The dreams weren't specific: the people and places changed but Sasuke's presence never wavered.

Morning came too soon for Naruto. Everything was too bright and he was too drained to do much about it. He was still in his work clothes that were now wrinkled beyond belief. Naruto remembered the times he'd slept on the couch and Hinata would wake him up before the kids saw him there, direct him towards a shower and a fresh change of clothes. Sometimes, those would be the only words they would exchange for weeks. Looking back on it now, Naruto wondered how he and Hinata had survived so long.

Sleep beckoned Naruto back and he answered. It was a peaceful morning.

Naruto was jerked to wakefulness when he felt Sasuke's chakra rumble like far away thunder. A secret he never told anyone, Naruto had directed just about all his sensory skill time to attune them to Sasuke's chakra. A bit of it had to do with his competitive nature. He could tell when Sasuke was in their dimension and sometimes even judge how far away the foreign dimension Sasuke occupied was. Provided Sasuke did not conceal himself, which Sasuke always did unless he was in Konoha, Naruto could even feel the vibrations of Sasuke's general emotional state. It eased Naruto's mind a little knowing that he always had a vague idea how Sasuke was doing.

"Hey, teme..." Naruto called out blearily making his way through the house. Naruto startled slightly when he walked into the foyer to find Sakura by the open door looking at him in mild amusement.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, Ummm, thank you for your hospitality." He gave her a sheepish smile.

"You're welcome. I guess you're looking for Sasuke." Ever since the divorce, she had dropped the 'Sasuke-kun.' Naruto nodded still feeling sheepish.

"Yeah." He responded lowly. Sakura nodded then glanced out the door.

"He went out with Konohamaru and Sarada followed them." Sakura tilted her head slightly gave a tiny sad smile.

"What was Konohamaru doing here?" Naruto asked.

"He'd come to apologize on behalf of the Sarutobi's for the massacre." Naruto winced. First thing in the morning as well, though it was hard to try pin down Sasuke any time of the day.

"Any idea where they went?" Naruto asked.

"The Uchiha graveyard probably." Sakura muttered. Naruto nodded and began making his way out of the door.

"Oh Naruto," Sakura called out before he left. He turned around.

"Don't stay at your old apartment. You are always welcome here." The warmth, kindness and acceptance in Sakura's voice swept away Naruto's defensive bristling before it gained any momentum. Naruto just nodded dumbly.

"Go." Naruto hastened to obey, startling into speedy action. Naruto never spent much time in the Uchiha district. It had changed rapidly once the orphanage was built and people started trickling in. There was life here, though a much quieter one than the rest of Konoha. Naruto felt out for Sasuke's chakra. The subtle rumbling was getting louder and more insistent.

He came upon the Uchiha cemetery. It was sealed off from the outside world. The gate was rusty and old, covered by overgrown weeds. Sarada stood still by the entrance.

"Sarada." Naruto whispered. She startled out of her stupor.

"Hokage-sama, how are you-" Sarada stopped apparently thinking better of it. Her gaze turned back to the cemetery, eyes roaming over all the space and taking in the place's dark atmosphere. Konohamaru and Sasuke were further within, their voices carrying across the empty space.

"Have you been here before?" She whispered. Naruto shook his head. This place had always reeked of this quality of misfortune and horror. In his younger years, Naruto hadn't needed any more bad luck latching on to him and later on, he didn't need anymore reminders of Sasuke's pain. The place was unkempt and forgotten, something that Naruto didn't find surprising but at the same time, no one deserved to have their family forgotten like this.

"I knew that there were a lot of people. I mean the name 'massacre' implies it but I didn't realise that it would be..." Sarada said her voice trailing off. Naruto knew what she meant. It was hard imagining all those plaques were families, people with hope's and dreams, people that seven year old Sasuke knew, played with, laughed with, his family: all just gone in one bloody night. To him, these had always been plaques, a bad story, an unfortunate blip in Konoha's history or a justification of Sasuke's descent into darkness.

A jagged laugh cut through the dead air like a cloth being forcefully ripped apart. Sarada took a step backwards from the cemetery, three tomoe flashing briefly at the sight and sound of her father. She had never seen him like this Naruto realised. Never felt how Sasuke's pain and anger could blot out the sun and hang over you like a dark overcast sky. Naruto brought an arm around her shoulder and brough her close. They continued standing by the cemetery gates.

Naruto and Sarada saw Sasuke show Konohamaru the Uchiha trademark technique and grant him use of the technique as an acknowledgement of the apology. A remembrance of the Uchiha, Sasuke explained.

Naruto was a politician. He understood that with the Uchiha missive being declassified, Sasuke had become a powerful figure politically especially among the clans. That he and Sasuke stood together bolstered them both and left the other clans clamoring for favour. Sasuke had thrown away a huge opportunity to gather support from the Council and undermine their authority.

On the other hand, Sasuke had honour- bound the Sarutobi to the Uchiha for generations to come using that single jutsu. He didn't know if Sasuke even realised it or not but his actions had bargained a price that changed the entire political sphere. The Sarutobi clan were largely neutral but if Konohamaru accomplished what Sasuke asked, that wouldn't be the case anymore. Trust Sasuke to upend the entire political playing field.

Konohamaru disappeared when he was dismissed. Naruto saw the slump of Sasuke's shoulders and felt the heaviness of saturated air before a torrential downpour weigh in on his senses. He and Sarada moved further in the cemetery with Sasuke, minding the flames that were burning away the overgrowth. Sasuke seemed not to realise they were there. Lost in the throes of what he tried to contain, he swayed slightly with barely supressed emotion. His lips moved whispered words that couldn't quite reach the pair.

"You BROKE me."

Both Naruto and Sarada stopped moving. Naruto's chest went cold and he grimaced. The sound had been wrenched from Sasuke's chest deep, painful, guttural and raw. It scraped across Naruto's skin the way chalk scraped across a board. Naruto barely registered Sarada clutch at his robes, his eyes could not be torn from the sight of Sasuke's heart overflowing. His lips continued moving again, the volumes of his words varying with the waves of emotions that continued rushing out of him.

"You would let me go. Please, just let me go." A sob wracked it's way up Naruto's chest that he forced back down with a shudder. Sarada whimpered and put her hands over her ears. Her Sharingan flashed and she jerked out of Naruto's reach. Naruto moved towards her but she moved further away, her arms folding over her stomach in a protective gesture.

Naruto tried to move closer again but a pained cry so similar to her father's came out of her stopping Naruto once again in his tracks.

Sarada clapped a hand over her mouth before the cry rose in volume. She shook from the effort it took to contain the emotion. Then she closed her eyes and ran out of the cemetery. Naruto felt sadness and frustration overwhelm him there and then, his own tears slowly starting to form. The sob shot up all the way to its throat as a low whine that Naruto cut off abruptly.

The distinct sensation of a Mangekyou filled his senses much like the feel of static dancing across the skin. The flames flared up out of nowhere in a way that had Naruto backing away on instinct.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called out stepping into the flames to find his friend before he burned the place to the ground. Unless that was what Sasuke wanted. If Sasuke wanted, Naruto would erase the place from the map or erect a world class monument in memoriam. Whatever Sasuke wanted.

Chakra swelled and the flames gathered before Sasuke to form a hawk.

A hawk. That was impressive actually.

Naruto moved closer to Sasuke wanting to reach the man and be there for him. Whatever Sasuke needed. Naruto could push aside his own desires no matter how loudly they shouted. He would be there through thick and thin. Sasuke said a tribute to his brother, one soft and loving in a private way that made Naruto pause and give the man some space.The fireball Sasuke created was enormous. It blinded Naruto and created a massive wind that blew away the ash and soot. The heat died down and ash settled down like snow falling in winter.

Sasuke finally noticed him, Mangekyou piercing through Naruto with its sharp unnatural gaze. Sasuke stepped up to Naruto, gliding through the air like a phantom and coming an abrupt stop before Naruto. There was a heartbreaking emptiness in his eyes, a hollowing loss that made Sasuke's features glacial in their neutrality. Some wounds would never heal no matter how much Naruto wished them.

It was unfair, Naruto thought, how beautiful Sasuke could be. Even as a tragic figure with blood streaming down his cheeks the man imposed his own strength on the world. The negative emotions were cooling in Sasuke's eyes, his face rapidly concealing the fissures in his composure. His eyes still held the loss.

Naruto reached out with his bandaged hand, wiping away the blood from Sasuke's face. The moment felt tender, his fingers grazing Sasuke's face: Lingering, savoring and...loving. The vow to shield Sasuke away from all pain rang out through Naruto's soul. Sasuke's eyes fluttered and Naruto's heart stuttered.

Naruto could spend lifetimes just here with him. The intimacy of it all left tremors in Naruto's quiet breaths that could not be controlled. He stepped away before it got too much but still Naruto could feel something urging him back into Sasuke's space.Sasuke observed as he always did.

"Why are you here?"

Sasuke always asked him this. Naruto was only just starting to figure it out: finally. It wasn't a surprise. The depth of how he felt, how it changed and what it meant was overwhelming.The enormity of the full realization was heady.

 _Gods above, has it always been you?_ Naruto thought, an ache blooming in his chest.

_Sasuke, do you know what you are to me?_

"Teme, where else would I be?" Sasuke gave him a smile. It wasn't particularly happy or sad. It was just matter of fact, acknowledging and accepting. Yet still, it had Naruto tipping over to Sasuke, pulled in by his gravity and catching himself before he crashed into Sasuke by sheer force of will.

"Indeed, where else would hope be.  
But adamantly here with me,  
standing at the end of all things.  
A lone candle against the dark."

Naruto took a glance at Sasuke, heart warming at the words. His fingers twitched towards Sasuke's hand. Naruto grinned up to the sky.

Gods have mercy on him, of all times and in all places.

Naruto was in love.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been like 12 hours since the papers were signed people of course he still thinks of Hinata a bit, especially now that its official.  
> Anyway, I've been working on Rinnegan mechanics cause Sasuke and the Otsutsuki fight scenes are soon and Naruto Six Paths Sage Mode has mechanics.  
> The Otsutsuki have the Rinnegan in the palms of their hands that is why Akumu still has her Byaakugan. Why they didn't remove the Byaakugan as well will be explained later.  
> I promise we will see Naruto interact with his own family sometime.  
> Future Sasuke interactions in no particular order: Sasuke and Sarada talk. Sasuke and Kakashi(oh man!).


	15. Past, Present and Future Part 1

 

Sasuke jumped his way to the top of the Hokage mountain. It was better to give Sarada time to prepare for his arrival rather than just teleport beside her. He didn't want to add to her emotional distress or disrupt how she was processing what she'd apparently seen at the cemetery. If she wanted more time to herself, Sarada could avoid him by leaving before Sasuke arrived and he wouldn't pursue her. However, Sarada stayed where she was, either too distracted to sense Sasuke's approach or waiting for him at the top.

Sasuke landed quietly, no trace of him except the slightest shift in the air. The view of Konoha was amazing from this angle; the city extended out and touched the forests that faded out into the milky blue horizon The hustle and bustle of city life barely made it to where they were except for the heavy metal clunking of the train as it trudged around Konoha's periphery. This was Boruto's secret sanctuary. Well, if the boy could keep a secret then it would have been. Sasuke had seen Boruto take just about every single nin that tolerated him to this place and yet, the boy still referred to it as his 'secret sanctuary.' It might as well have been a tourist spot.

"I thought you would just teleport here." Sarada said turning to him. Her hair fluttered in the breeze, partially obscuring her face.

"You hate it when I, 'subvert the rules of etiquette and pop into existence wherever I wish,'" Sasuke quoted smirking slightly. Sarada gave him an unimpressed look, gesturing for him to sit beside her. The two sat in silence for a while, listening to the wind whistle past them and the train clamor on in the distance.

"I guess it's time we are having this conversation, huh?" Sarada said giving Sasuke a rueful smile. Sasuke hummed in agreement. Sakura had said it was best they talked, when Sasuke had returned home. Sarada did not deal well with things that went unspoken especially between the three of them. Maybe it would be best for Sasuke too, if he got it all out in one day?

"I...I'm sorry you had to see me like that." Sasuke murmured. Sarada blinked twice and looked up to the sky.

"You don't have to apologise. It was a shock and yes... it was...painful. But," she returned her gaze to him, a ferocity sparking in her eyes reminiscent of Sakura's pale green glinted determination.

"I'd rather that, than live in ignorance of who you are. Who you are, your story, is important to me: no matter how dark." Sasuke let his hand push the windswept locks out of her face and tuck them behind Sarada's ear as a wave of fondness and gratitude rose up within him. He and Sakura tried to be a good parental unit but between their separation and hectic work schedules, they admittedly left a lot to be desired. Despite all that, they both loved Sarada fiercely (and Sarada loved them,) in the way only an Uchiha could. Whatever came, they would always be bound together by blood, name, love and choice. Sasuke wouldn't replace his family, imperfection and all, for anything.

"Hn." Sasuke swallowed down the warmth and it settled in his happily chest. Sarada smiled at him, his lips quirked in reply.

"You... had questions." Sasuke prompted. Sarada blinked at the abrupt topic change then sighed out quietly.

"I can never get used to that." She closed her eyes for a moment, gathered herself with a deep inhale and opened her eyes again: young dark eyes focused on him.

"There are a lot of questions, as expected, but not of all of them are important or need to be answered." Her eyes wandered for a brief moment before pining their gaze back onto Sasuke.

"Why don't you wear the Uchiha clan symbol?" Sarada asked.

Naruto had asked him the same question a couple of times after Sasuke had returned to Konoha. Sakura had also asked before she put up the insignia in their house and on her and Sarada's clothes. It was a fair question, Sasuke supposed. Those who remembered the Uchiha remembered the crest on the uniforms of active police officers. The Uchiha didn't wear the symbol all that often and as shinobi, even less.

Itachi had absolved him of his oath to the clan when they had last seen each other. Sasuke fulfilled his duty to the clan and left their legacy in good hands; ones not tainted by the bloody history of the Uchiha name. The old Uchiha, Sasuke's Uchiha's, were dead. For all that his daughter wore the same symbol, it meant different things.

"My clan is dead. The symbol you carry will not be tainted by my actions and the actions of those before. The future of the Uchiha, however long it may be, and what it means to be an Uchiha is yours to decide."

"No pressure then." Sarada muttered looking away. Sasuke gave a quiet chuckle which Sarada returned when she peeked over at him.

"You know I want to be Hokage. I want to help the people of this village and protect them. The Nanadaime has done an amazing thing with the five nations alliance and repelling the alien weirdos that frequent our dimension. But there are just so many problems out there: a growing population, clan politics, a stalling economy, increase in organised crime to list just a few." Sarada counted off the problems with her fingers with an increasingly peevish expression. Sasuke snorted in amusement. Sarada glared at him.

"The world is always changing. It is the goal of the humanity for their hearts to stay true."

"Hell yeah! The soul of the shinobi must remain the same." Sarada lifted her hand up for a high five. Sasuke met it easily, having seen her do it many times with her teams mates and her mother when they were riled up. Sarada seemed caught off guard by her own exuberant response, blushing slightly when she realised what she'd done. She played it off cool, sliding seamlessly into a more neutral pose crossing her arms against her chest.

Her words reminded him of something he had said to Naruto during the Momoshinki crisis. Sarada had probably picked it up from him.

"Next question. Why did you surrender to the Seventh at the Valleys End? I found it odd that he used that word specifically. When it comes to anything about you or him, the Seventh isn't the most reliable narrator and his is the only source we have. What did you mean when you surrendered?"

Sasuke considered her words. Truthfully, he was surprised. He had not expected that to be a question, Sarada seemed to have been banking on that. It was hard to describe how Sasuke felt and thought at that time almost two decades ago.

Sasuke had no longer needed to kill Naruto for power. He had the Eternal Mangekyou and a Rinnegan. But his ties to Naruto were a burden to them both that they did not need. The world needed change: the wars had proved that. Naruto's solution was slow, naive and its strength (co-operation) was also its greatest weakness. Hadn't humanity proved that their greatest capacity was that of greed? That given enough time, they would hunger for more power and status pushing the world once again into a state of chaos.

Being high-handed and donning on the mantle of the world's villain meant he could bring about an end to the era of disaster that had befallen the shinobi world. Sasuke accepted the consequences of his choices (the loss,hatred, darkness and inevitable lonely,violent death) and deemed them acceptable. Naruto did not.

In the end, Sasuke didn't either to his own immense relief. Sasuke had hurt enough good people and hurting Naruto felt like hurting himself and as it turned out, there was a limit to how much pain and guilt Sasuke could put himself through. Naruto's refusal to let him go meant that the world would lose them both and what would that achieve? Perhaps with Naruto he could do more than just take power away from the systems that abused those under them. Perhaps he could build something worth living in and maybe even get to experience it. Maybe.

No matter who won the fight. Sasuke saw that either Naruto walked away a shell of the man he was, broken as Sasuke had been after the massacre and after killing Itachi, or Naruto didn't walk away at all. To this day, he wondered if Naruto realised the power he had placed in Sasuke's hands that day, power that Naruto refused to take back even when they lay next to each other sans an arm each, bloody and utterly spent.

Sasuke blinked back the memories and returned Sarada's curious stare.

" Surrender...was the best outcome available."

"Best outcome for whom? You placed your life in Konoha's hands."

"I placed it in Naruto's hands." Sasuke corrected. If anyone were to be breaking Naruto's heart irreparably it was going to be the institution that Naruto believed in. Tsunade had given Sasuke an almost impressed look when he had described the details of his surrender. He knew she hadn't shared it with anyone else. Konhoa could try to kill him. Naruto would break him out before that, lead a rebellion or worse still turn on the city. Many thought Naruto's defection impossible, Sasuke had too in the past. But just as Naruto had seen whatever light was barely alive in Sasuke, Sasuke had seen the shadows that lingered between Kurama and Naruto. 

While Naruto's blindspot for Sasuke was obvious, its depth was not meant to be widespread knowledge. Tsunade had responded that the outcome at the Valley of the End demonstrated Sasuke's own blindspot for Naruto. Konoha could and would still conspire against them. Sasuke had shrugged, Konoha would be Konoha and the nin-world always be dark. Naruto would discover that soon enough and he had.

Sarada nodded but Sasuke could tell she didn't understand. It was hard to explain to anyone what existed between them. It wasn't a fairytale of soulmates bound by fate or an epic tale of a hero and his rival. It was far more complex and ever changing: their paths were too intertwined to be truly independent yet too mutable to be ruled by destiny. 

"Sasuke-sensei!" Boruto's excited voice jarred the two out of their quiet reverie. The boy landed on top of the mountain face in his usual attire: a black tracksuit and bright shirt. Boruto's quick motions came to a sudden halt when he realised Sarada was there, his eyes bugging out unnaturally if it wasn't for the fact that Sasuke knew the boys father well enough to know it was an inherited expression.

"Ah, um... I didn't know um this was um a family thing um," Boruto rub his head and looked to the ground to hid his burning cheeks.

"Hm Boruto, were you that excited to sense your sensei chakra? He's missed you." Sarada mock whispered to Sasuke an impish smile on her lips. Boruto's face brightened even more and the boy pointed a finger to Sarada in outrage.

"Sarada!" Boruto hissed. Sarada was nonplussed.

"Don't Sarada me. You know what you did."

"What I did?" The boy blinked before the outrage overtook him again.

"That was a mistake!" He shouted.

"A costly one." Sarada sniped back. The two continued to shout at each other, voices climbing in volume and register. Boruto's voice in particular was somersaulting between octaves. Sasuke cleared his throat gaining their attention. The two kids grew silent, both blushing and looking to the side.

"I'm sorry for interrupting Sasuke-sensei. I can come back another time." Boruto looked painfully hopeful. Sasuke didn't have the heart to tell him that he was likely going to be searching for the other Otsutsuki member soon. Sarada came to the same conclusion it seemed and had pity on Boruto.

"Don't be silly Boruto, who knows when's the next time he'll be in Konoha to train you--"

"Oi, dont call me silly when I'm trying to be considerate you--"

"Maybe," Sasuke cut in loudly before they had a new screaming match.

"Maybe we could all train together?" Sasuke suggested. They looked at each other, matching grins overtaking their faces.

"Us against you?" Boruto asked chakra flaring up in preparation. He was used to his teacher's quick movements. Sarada flared her own chakra as well.

"Well, we can't spar here." Sasuke said referring to the fact they were on top of a monument. He let his Rinnegan come to life and a portal opened up before them. The portal led to a training ground in Konoha.

"Be ready." Sasuke told them as the two kids jumped through. When Sasuke came through he immediately moved to dodge two kunai marked with explosive tags that soared past him. Still in mid-air, Sasuke sent three shuriken flying towards Boruto. The boy teleported out of the way, his Jougan and curse mark flashing into existence.

"Oh, is that how it is? Bloody Uchiha's." Sasuke was already moving to Sarada, kusanagi's blade swinging towards her. She ducked out of the way, her sharingan activating to her defense. She still wasn't fast enough to dodge the kick Sasuke sent her way that had her skidding to Boruto's side of the training ground.

"Your reflexes are shoddy," Sasuke criticized them both.

Two clones of Boruto popped into existence. Sarada made a tiger seal and blew flames at Sasuke while the three Borutos approached. Sasuke made the same gesture and inhaled the flames then shot them back with an increased ferocity. The real Boruto and Sarada skittered in opposite directions while the clones were incinerated in the blast.

"What the hell was that?" Sarada called out in exasperation.

"Nevermind that, keep fighting!" Boruto shouted, used to Sasuke pulling weird jutsu on him. Boruto and Sarada sped towards him from opposite directions. Sasuke exchanged blows with them till he flipped out of the way and blew a decent sized fireball at them. Sarada copied his jutsu inhaling the flames and blowing them back. The force of the jutsu was more than she could handle and she flew backwards into a wall.

Boruto charged at him with his blade only to teleport past him and throw a rasengan from behind. Sasuke dodged the rasengan and was once again faced with the two kids on opposite ends of the grounds.

Sarada charged, leapt into the air and threw a barrage of tagged kunai around Sasuke then made a gesture for a fire seal to trap Sasuke within the confines of the the kunai's boundary. It was an advanced seal that Sasuke would have been intrigued to see if she could pull off casting fully. Sasuke used Chidori Nagashi and pushed it into the ground, the lightning burst out all over his body and in the surrounding area breaking the fire seal before Sarada could activate it.

"Enough." Sasuke called out. Boruto deactivated the Rasengan he was about to throw as Sarada landed in front of Sasuke with a huff. Sasuke motioned them to him.

"Your teamwork is terrible. You can fight side by side but you do not fight together. Capitalise on each others strengths and minimise each others weaknesses. Both of you need to work on using other chakra natures other than your own. Sarada, Naruto can help you with that. I suggest starting with earth release. Be careful with jutsu that you copy, they can...backfire. With the Sharingan your reflexes should much faster than that."

"Boruto you were wasting chakra teleporting all over the place, a few more exchanges and you would have become dead weight in this fight. Your taijutsu is still sloppy, we need to find a style better suited to you. You do a lot better with kenjutsu but you won't always have a weapon at your disposal."

Both nodded along, taking the criticisms seriously. Sarada had a spark in her eye that suggested she was already thinking of earth jutsu to try. Boruto was absently swinging his kodachi about. The boy had taken to liking kenjutsu that stuck longer than anything else he'd tried.

"Dismissed." Both of them bowed and ran off, already chattering to each other about their plans for the day. Sasuke allowed himself a small smile at the scene of youth.

There were other things to do though. A presence was expertly hidden in his vicinity. So much so, Sasuke wouldn't have known it was there if he wasn't acquainted with it. Sasuke activated his Rinnegan and focused on it, the spark that blended in with the flow of natural chakra sharpening into a blinding bolt similar to the of flash of burning magnesium that receded even further into the folds of nature chakra when it was detected, but Sasuke had already found it. There was no hiding.

"Kakashi." Sasuke called out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was meant to be both Sarada and Sasuke then Sasuke and Kakashi but that was too many characters being introduced and while the theme was similar the feelings were far too different for the transition bit with Boruto to adequately change the mood.  
> I was also debating on how much angst/darkness to put into the Kakashi bit.   
> Warning it may tackle some pretty heavy themes. i've been trying to avoid gory situations (originally, Sasuke was supposed to burn out Akumu's byaakugan using ameterasu during the prison cell scene).  
> Anyway after the Kakashi bit we will return to Naruto interactions and begin wrapping up Sasuke's POV.


	16. Past, Present and Future Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I managed to write this chapter without the dark content so no need for warnings! Some of the darker stuff is still part of the story, it will just make it into the story at a later point (3rd act I think)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the previous chapters, Sasuke describing himself as loving Naruto and Naruto as describing himself as in love with Sasuke (with little preamble or second guessing) was intentional.

Kakashi walked forward to meet Sasuke in that unhurried overly relaxed manner of his that had driven Sasuke up the wall as a child. He was dressed in his usual Konoha shinobi attire: dark fit clothes and a green sleeveless jacket a size too big draped over his shoulders. Kakashi still wore the eyepatch, despite having two functioning eyes and no perpetually activated Sharingan. The man looked good for his age, then again, he was barely a decade older than Sasuke.

"Your eyes match now hmm, Sasuke? Such a pity, I thought we could make a little one eyed dojutsu club." Kakashi said with a vaguely amused tone.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke asked evenly. Kakashi tilted his head in mock confusion. His eyes communicated fondness, warmth and amusement. Yet Sasuke felt a sense of nothingness blaring out from Kakashi.

"Can't a teacher check on his student once in a while?" Kakashi questioned innocently. Sasuke's eyebrows rose.

"You haven't been a teacher for a long time." And you were barely mine went unsaid. The warmth in Kakashi's gaze swept over his face like ghostly mist over the dark deep midnight pool that was Kakashi's eye: surface unruffled, unmarred, flawless like an opaque gemstone. The nothingness blared even louder in the awkward silence that fell between them.

He and Kakashi weren't quite estranged. Sasuke hadn't been around for most of Kakashi's tenure as Hokage and even when he was, Kakashi was overloaded with work. When Naruto became Hokage, Kakashi had opted to go back into the field as ANBU, taking on some of the darkest missions available according to Naruto and becoming an even bigger legend within the group. Sasuke had then gone off traipsing in other dimensions for some time. When Sasuke had returned, nothing had changed. Kakashi was still off doing ANBU things and when he wasn't, he was by himself reading 'romance fiction' or with Gai. Sasuke and Kakashi never sought each other out unless absolutely necessary. There was too much lingering unsaid between them for any casual contact to be anything other than uncomfortable. Not that either of them did casual contact.

The silence dragged on. Kakashi did not move or blink, his posture was monolithic in its neutrality. Something roiled slowly in the shadows of Kakashi's eye, its movements not breaking the surface or leaving any trace of ripples. It was the type of empathetic intensity that only those who'd had he flame of the Sharingan seared into their very bones projected.

Sasuke heaved an inaudible sigh. He wasn't a child anymore. He didn't have to participate in the silent deadlock of wills that Kakashi always seemed eager to have with him. Sasuke turned to pick up his coat from where it had fallen during his spar with the kids.

"Your sparring with the kids was fun to watch. What about a bigger challenge?" Kakashi said lightly. Sasuke stopped airing his coat and looked back at Kakashi blandly. Their eyes connected for the briefest moment. Sasuke saw the glint in Kakashi eye and barely dodged the oncoming attack.

The coat fell to the ground with quiet slump. Kakashi's arm was covered in writhing purple electric currents, punching a hole through the space that Sasuke's torso had previously occupied. Sasuke leaned to the side just a few inches away, the charged air making his skin prickle.

"That wasn't a no." Kakashi said voice still light and airy like a summer day. Sasuke swiped at Kakashi with kusanagi while flipping out of the way. Kakashi blocked the blow catching the blade with bare hands protected by purple electricity.

Why couldn't the man talk about things like other people, Sasuke wondered with no small amount of exasperation. Sure, Sasuke wasn't the talkative type either but this was just ridiculous. Kakashi rushed in with another flurry of attacks. The man wasn't going in for the kill that much was clear but Kakashi certainly wasn't holding back either. With a man as skilled as Kakashi, having one arm became an exceedingly big disadvantage in close quarters combat. There was only so much Sasuke could do when it was three limbs against four.

Kakashi would never be as quick as Sasuke though. Sasuke kicked at Kakashi's chest. It was blocked but the force of the blow knocked Kakashi off balance long enough for Sasuke's second kick to send him skidding to a stop several meters away.

"Everything is always a game with you." Sasuke muttered before he could catch himself. Engaging Kakashi was always pointless, a mistake Sasuke tried to unlearn but always failed. Kakashi was always hiding and feigning disinterest too much for anything of worth to ever be accomplished between them. Even as a child, Sasuke had been able to see that clear as day.

"Is it?" Purple lighting shot out and coalesced into whips in Kakashi's hands. The whips whizzed past Sasuke as he dodged them, moving closer to Kakashi. He charged kusanagi with a chidori and cut through the whips, swiped at Kakashi only for the decoy to disappear in cloud of smoke.

Sasuke felt the crackle of electric charge behind and moved to block the barrage of lightning aimed at him. Sasuke felt his arm begin to give way to the attack and then he disappeared and reappeared behind Kakashi.

"Stop wasting my time, speak what's on your mind." Sasuke growled pushing Kakashi roughly. When Sasuke's hand connected with Kakashi's back it felt like touching more than human flesh. Something was forcibly aligned between them, the spark of chakra that was Kakashi hurtled into Sasuke's vision and exploded into white molten sparks like a violent short circuit plunging Sasuke's world into murk and shadow.

He saw what Kakashi saw, felt as he did. Thought as he did. The essence of Kakashi burrowed into Sasuke's senses. Pain, self-hatred, guilt, love, relief, loneliness; crushing loneliness. A little boy washing his hands over and over.

_It won't wash off!_ A desperate sob. Tears pouring out endlessly. An empty house. A lone survior. Always burying his people. Always the one left behind. Failure.

The connection shattered.

Sasuke's vision swam back into focus, the world sharpened as the Eternal Mangekyou overlapped his Rinnegan, as he saw Kakashi swing at him. Dark intent poured from Kakashi's eye, a cold calculating rage swirling in it. Now that Sasuke had seen it and felt it, he wouldn't be able to unsee the darkness lurking in that eye ever again.

There was a violent threatening edge to the following attacks. Kakashi targeted Sasuke's unprotected left side, several kunai peeking out from within his sleeve. A skeletal Susanno arm shot out from behind Sasuke, blocking the attack and swiping at Kakashi. Kakashi leapt out of range, his arm glowing with the charge of a heavy chidori.

Was the man insane? Sasuke wondered.

Kakashi charged and stopped a breath away from piercing his arm through Sasuke's chest. Sasuke made no attempt to stop him, instead speaking calmly over the chirping of the chidori.

"Would you make the same mistake again?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi's eye widened, emotions flitting through, like a hundred birds scattering from a forest canopy. His eye narrowed again and Kakashi spoke lowly,

"Don't lecture me, kid. You don't know me." His arm moved closer to Sasuke's chest in a silent. Sasuke stepped even closer then, his clothes starting to singe and burn. In the pale blue light, what lay behind Kakashi's mask could be seen; monstrous and sad, devouring itself in its agony. Kakashi had killed many using this exact move -both friend and foe. Sasuke wondered if Kakashi saw them everytime he used this technique. Kakashi moved even closer, the heat beginning to sear the surface of Sasuke's skin. Kakashi's eye searched for a reaction on Sasuke's face.

"Are you a glutton for pain?" Kakashi asked drawing back to strike a supposedly lethal blow. Kakashi's arm began its downward thrust already tilting away from vital organs.Sasuke knew the man would stop just before he reached his target. Sasuke stepped into the blow.Kakashi's eye horrifically widened as he could not help but follow through with the motion caught in his own momentum

Kakashi's hand collided harmlessly with Sasuke's chest, now holding Sasuke's cloak instead of the chidori. Kakashi jerked away from Sasuke, looking at his hand and confirming there was no blood on it. Sasuke could see the ashen pallor fade from Kakashi's face as the man glared at him shaking slightly.

"There is a reason you do not use that technique anymore." Sasuke scolded.

"Stay the fuck out of my head, brat." Kakashi's voice came out gruffly. The man straightened out then slouched back into his usual posture, Kakashi's mask already coming back into play. No, Kakashi was not getting off that easy. Not today.

A portal opened up behind Kakashi and Sasuke flashed to him and pushed him through. Sasuke followed, hot on Kakashi's heels. The portal opened up to an adjacent dimension to theirs, one made up of endless valleys and barren earth. It was, in fact, the first dimension Sasuke had traveled to by himself: a physical harmonic afterimage of their dimension's space-time oscillations.

"What the hell..." Kakashi muttered as he took in his surroundings.

"If I'm going to beat some sense into you, I'd rather do it where I won't be accused of trying to kill an ex-Kage."

"Wouldn't be the first time would it?" Kakashi responded throwing out several marked shuriken into the ground around Sasuke that he began teleporting between trying to land a blow. Sasuke struck kusanagi through the ground and channeled the Chidori Nagarashi into the ground blasting all the shuriken away. The two continued exchanging blows, Sasuke speeding up faster than Kakashi could keep track of. A vicious kick sent Kakashi sprawling into the rocky cliff face. His collision with the rock threw up clouds of dust.

"Stop hiding away." Sasuke called out. Kakashi stepped out of the mini crater he had formed with his impact and shook off the pain. A seal appeared around Kakashi and chakra of different natures swirled around him drawing power from the dimension's senjutsu. It was an impressive imitation of the sage mode that Kakashi achieved without actually balancing his chakra with the natural senjutsu.

Attacks of different natures swarmed at Sasuke in streams of fire, water, earth and air. Sasuke dodged them all and leapt into the air hurling a swirling vortex of ameterasu at Kakashi. All of Kakashi's natures were consumed by the black flames and collided explosively with the the stone dome Kakashi had erected around himself. The dome broke apart into pieces covered in black flame slowly burning away into nothing.

"I am disappointed. Are you even trying?" Kakashi teased. Sasuke could see the man's chakra dimming. Kakashi had been relying on his own chakra reserves to sustain him and push his physical limits for too long. Sasuke could see some of the eight gates were open as, furthermore, the justsu's Kakashi used drew heavily on his chakra reserves. Kakashi was skilled, talented and a workaholic but he focused his skills on stealth and quick execution. A drawn out fight like this with heavy blows and no environmental benefits left Kakashi at a heavy disadvantage.

"Trying not to kill you? Yes." Sasuke smirked.

"What are you hoping to achieve with this, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked in a bored tone.

"You being honest, for once." Kakashi stared at him. The shadows in his eye leaping out into reality.

"You think that a glimpse into my soul is enough to tell you all you need to know about me." The chidori flashed in both of Kakashi's hands in a huge burst of chakra. He charged at Sasuke, light blazing a trail after him. Kakashi was fighting blind, not relying on his sight at all. Sasuke could admit it was a magnificent sight and took a genius like Kakashi to pull of such a dangerous stunt.

Sasuke charged kusanagi with a chidori and deflected Kakashi's blows. Kakashi technique wasn't perfect yet in this form and Sasuke found he could easily move faster than the blinded man could anticipate. The trick was avoiding the chidori charged hands that could sever limbs.

A kick to Kakashi's chest put enough distance between them for Sasuke to summon partial skeletal Susanoo. A skeletal hand went to slam Kakashi into the ground. Kakashi sensing the danger brought the chidoris above his head to catch the blow. He succeeded in stopping the attack, but now Kakashi was wide open.

Sasuke summoned the other Susanno hand and used it to swat Kakashi across the valley they were in. The white haired man bounced several times before landing in a graceless heap. The fight was over, Kakashi had exhausted his chakra with his last chidori technique. Sasuke walked over to the man slowly. By the time he got there, Kakashi was sitting up covered in dirt, clothes torn in a few places and his mask torn away to reveal his whole face.

"No one knows who you are, that's the point." Sasuke said sitting by Kakashi.

"Doesn't that make me a good ninja?" Kakashi responded airily.

"Kakashi," Sasuke stressed out the name biting back his own frustration. Kakashi's laugh was loud and empty, almost derisive.

"What do you want me to say, Sasuke?" Sasuke did not respond. The two sat in absolute silence.

"You've grown so much." Kakashi said softly. Sasuke looked at him. Kakashi was softer now, the lightness in his demeanour was gone, replaced by grey clouds and soft endless rain.

"It's the dream of any teacher for their students to be better people than them." Kakashi looked up to the sky. The sky here had a green tinge to it that made it very distinct from their dimension's blue sky. Emotions whisked over Kakashi's face like passing cirrus clouds.

"I like how you never refer to me as sensei, I did my best not to be one. You know why and how team seven came to be." A tiny grim smile appeared on Kakashi's lips.

Team Seven had been a team of convenience and nothing else, the members all had different strengths and little team work between them. Kakashi was powerful enough to keep Naruto's seal in check and make sure Itachi never tried to recruit Sasuke (or so they had hoped.) Sakura was just the unlucky nin to join them because her family wasn't influential enough to warrant her being placed in a decent team. The third Hokage let Sasuke leave the village only in order to keep Itachi's focus away from Konoha and Naruto.

"Still, try as I might you became, and still remain to me, my student." The words came out in a hushed surrender reminiscent of the time Kakashi had told team seven he loved them after the war. Sasuke shut his eyes, emotion rocking through him like a high tide. He would have moved away if he weren't sitting down. As it were, Sasuke could only bow his head.

"I'm sorry." Sasuke's eyes widened and he faced Kakashi in shock.

"As...as am I." Sasuke's voice was choked.

"What for?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke blinked then huffed in amusement.

"Attempted murder for one. The rest of the list is quite long." Kakashi chuckled, low and genuine.

"You apologised for that a long time ago." Sasuke hummed in agreement then added,

"Maybe you'll believe me this time." Kakashi tilted his head pondering the words then shook his head. The rain stopped and the sun was already starting to peek out from behind the clouds of Kakashi's demeanor.

"Enough of that, nice as it was." Kakashi stood and brushed the dust of his clothes. His voice was light again but this time, Sasuke sensed gennuine lightness and warmth in his words. Kakashi scanned the area around pretending to notice for the first time where they were.

"Sasuke, you can take us home right?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man this chapter was rough. The interaction of two not so talkative individuals was intriguing, also so many past events to address and avoid. Kakashi resents his own existence basically. He hates himself for what he's done not only to Sas but team seven, Yamato and everyone else close to him. He hates the choices he's made in the name of Konoha. Much like sasuke destroying himself outside of konoha in order to fix it, Kakashi was letting Konoha destroy him for the greater good.  
>  Kashi and Sas are characters who both shy away from the bond they've created because Kashi knows he'd break the bond if need be and Sas because he'd let the bond break him if need be. There is anger, betrayal, forgiveness and confusion on both sides but neither wants to address the mess between them.  
> There are only two more chapters left in Sasuke's POV.  
> I may have said this before but the Hyuuga Mess will be seen from Naruto's POV cause his family is in the middle of all of that.


	17. An Offering

The sun just touched the horizon. A molten golden orb painting the vanishing point a blazing copper fading into a pale scarlet that then washed out into a fuzzy white peach sky with the tiniest hint of milky blue. On the other end of the horizon, night seeped into the heavens like ink seeped through thin paper, blue deepening into  endless dark. The last of the sun's rays cast an amber glow on every surface in the Hokage's office. Naruto looked every bit the Fire Shadow.

"Sasuke, is everything set?" Naruto asked fiddling with a few papers on his desk. Sasuke hummed a confirmation then replied,

"Are you ready to go?" Naruto placed the papers into different piles on his desk, giving one of them a cursory glance and furrowing his eyebrows before placing on its own singular pile right in front of him.

"Yeah, I just need to tidy up and let Shika know I'm going. Then we can go." He pressed a button on the phone on his desk to call Shikamaru to his office.

"Hn, that isn't being ready." Naruto paused to give Sasuke a dirty look.

"You are early, bastard."

"That's because you are always late, dead last." Sasuke drawled watching Naruto put on his sandals. Naruto insisted on taking them off since the office was basically his home, why should he not get comfortable?

"Well some of us have actual work to do, believe it! We can't just come and go as we please."

"Hn, exuses." Sasuke tutted. Naruto huffed in mock offense a tiny smile on his lips.

"Excuses? The last I heard of you, you had kidnapped Kakashi and had taken him to some death dimension and that was what? Four days ago?" Naruto exclaimed making vague gestures with his hands. Sasuke tilted his head.

"Death dimension?" Naruto scoffed as he went to grab his cloak.

"Ugh, the Hyuuga were still spying on you and the councillors were worried you were going to kill Kakashi wherever you had disappeared off to." This was why Sasuke had taken them to a separate dimension in the first place. Sasuke side stepped his inevitable irritation.

"We weren't gone for more than a few hours." How did the councillors raise enough of a ruckus for Naruto to hear about it? Though it wasn't that far-fetched considering that Naruto could probably tell when the distance between he and Sasuke increased without warning. If Sasuke, who wasn't much of a sensor by any means, could track Naruto across dimensions; then, it followed that Naruto, a decent sensor, could tell when Sasuke no longer occupied the same dimension. Be that as it may, Sasuke bristled slightly.

"Well, you know how the old curmudgeons are." Naruto said as he pinned his coat on. He gave Sasuke a thoughtful look.

"Why were you two fighting anyway?"

"We were sparring." Sasuke corrected. Naruto gave him a dubious look.

"Sparring that had Kakashi using a chidori?" Sasuke gave Naruto a bland look. Naruto sighed.

"Sasuke--"

"Do you think I was trying to kill Kakashi?"

"No. But you aren't the only person who could have been trying to kill the other there!" Naruto said eyes flashing.

"Kakashi. Kill, me?" Sasuke scoffed. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"That isn't the point teme and you know it! Kakashi's been acting different."

"Ask him then."

"You think I haven't tried! I gave up on getting a straight answer from that pervert years ago!" Naruto exclaimed. He moved back behind his desk giving Sasuke a serious look.

"I want... I'm just trying to help." Sasuke narrowed his eyes. There was something else flickering in Naruto's face that Naruto kept trying to bury.

"Help how? To do what?" Sasuke asked trying his best to keep the judgement out of his voice. Naruto looked at his desk then faced Sasuke again, face set in determination.

"You've stood beside me, helped, protected and inspired me. Even now, we are going to secret gathering that you set up for me and the other Kage. Is it wrong for me to want to do same?"

"Naruto." Sasuke began awkwardly. He didn't know what to say to the intensity blazing in Naruto's eyes.

"Sas, I'm just," Naruto ran out of words as well. Naruto chuckled rubbing the back of his neck. The atmosphere in the room changed so obviously it may as well have climbed a couple degrees in temperature.

"The genjutsu was different. We talked. I mean, we talk all the time: we talk, write and sometimes we don't need to talk at all." Naruto chuckled again.

"But, in the genjutsu we really connected. I got to see parts of you I never knew, that I wish I'd always known. It may have been just an illusion, but I got to see a part your world and even if I can't physically be a part of that world..." Nostalgia and an odd regret swept into Naruto's tone. Dusk's light made the flecks in Naruto's eyes glow like embers in a dying fire. Naruto sighed looking back down to his desk again. Sasuke moved closer till he was flush against the desk.

"The truth about the Uchiha is out there. My family has a place here. You've done more than enough." Sasuke said softly, resting his hand against his end of the desk.

"This is different, Sasuke." Naruto still wouldn't look at him.

"You don't have to do this."

Blue eyes flashed at him, earnest almost pleading in their sincerity. It burned; seeing this, feeling this. Love burned.

Naruto leant across the desk into Sasuke's space.

"I choose to. If you'll let me."

A memory of green eyes and similar words: the skeptic optimism that rose within and the crushing disappointment that followed after years of strained effort. Sasuke viciously quashed the thought. It wasn't fair to anyone to compare the two. It had never been fair. If Sasuke had any sense he would have run for the hills. But the feeling of inevitability stirred in his gut. Hope won. Sasuke hadn't realised his eyes were closed until there was a knock at the door.

"Yeah!" Naruto yelled out. Shikamaru walked in and shut the door. There was a beat of silence then Naruto nodded. Shikamaru waved his hand over the room. Sasuke felt different seals activate in the room, some Sasuke could easily identify as anti-espionage seals. Others were so complex that they would have required time for Sasuke to sort through and study.

"You created these seals?" Sasuke stated to Shikamaru trailing his hand over an elaborate seal that lay on Naruto's desk. It was an intricate occlusion seal that used shadows to project a mirage over the desk making the objects illegible and physically bound to the desk, making them impossible to steal. Sasuke was truly impressed.

"Yeah. Why?"

"It's intriguing work."

"Hmm, thinking of copying it?" Naruto teased. Sasuke shook his head.

"I don't have the skill with shadow seals to be able to replicate this." Only when the patterns of the jutsu began unraveling in his mind did Sasuke realise he had activated his Rinnegan already trying to decipher how they worked. Naruto gave him a teasing nudge,

"You can nerd out on Shikamaru's stuff later, we have places to be remember." Sasuke gave Naruto a flat look and a nod to Shikamaru. Sasuke and Naruto prepared to leave, moving to stand together in the centre of the room.

"Shika, my clones are around Konoha doing work stuff, I think. I might as well give the council something to talk about. Most of them can't tell the difference between a clone and the real me anyway."

"With all the clones you have running around, sometimes I wonder if there even is a real you anymore." Shikamaru said with a sigh. Shikamaru waved them off both before Sasuke opened a portal to their rendezvous.

They stepped out onto the edge of a huge abandoned open cast mine in the Land of Iron. The sands was dark, rich and loose, no sight of civilization for miles. Using the Rinnegan, Sasuke spotted the only other beings in the area were the four Kage and a body guard each already waiting inside the mine.

"Wow Sasuke, you're really going all out." Naruto said dragging a finger over a molting, rusty pillar and grimacing when he saw the grime that collected on it.

"Hn." The place was close to most of the other Kage given the short notice Sasuke had given them. It's distance from the Land of Fire was inconsequential as he and Naruto had planned on teleporting anyway. Its convenience far outweighed the lack in aesthetics in Sasuke's mind.

"We should get moving, the others are already waiting for us." Sasuke said as he started making his way deeper into the mines. Naruto followed, falling into the familiar rhythm they had adopted in the genjutsu. The place was falling apart, rusty buildings, broken windows and dusty furniture all littered the area. Huge beams and supports sprung up from the ground around them, joining to make a conveyer belt that ran above them.

"If you want, I'll stop you know." Naruto murmured out of the blue mildly startling Sasuke. Sasuke let out a questioning noise not ready to abandon his mental review of his contributions at the meeting they were about to attend.

"I won't force you to share parts of your life with me. Say so...and I'll stop." Sasuke let out an amused huff. Restraint was not Naruto's forte. When had Naruto ever not made his intentions known? When had Naruto ever stopped pursuing or pushing for something he wanted?

"Really?" Sasuke snorted expecting an indignant huff for not trusting the word of a hero. Naruto said nothing. The space beside Sasuke that Naruto usually occupied felt empty. Sasuke turned to see Naruto a few steps behind standing in under the shade of an overarching beam.The shadows cast on Naruto's face seemed darker and longer, felt tangible. Sasuke noted that Naruto's eyes always looked mercury in the shadows.

When had Naruto ever said something he didn't mean?

Naruto's aura was like an inferno imploding into a single focal point, sucking in everything because it had rapidly consumed all the oxygen in the area. Silence, like air, crashed into Naruto's orbit heavy and unforgiving, scraping itself on Sasuke skin as it rushed past him to fill the sudden void. Sasuke opened his mouth to speak but no sounds would come out. Sasuke felt callous.

"I promise. Just say the word." Naruto gave an empty smile that glinted as harshly as the liquid metal in his eyes. The chill of it seeped right through Sasuke's chest and froze his lungs.

"Naruto," Naruto's smile faltered at the sound of his name and looked away, hands tightening at his sides. Sasuke took the the few steps to reach Naruto hand reaching out to his shoulder gripping it tightly. The urge to wrap himself around Naruto to protect him from all pain, even if that pain was himself, reared its head. The emotion stirred up his yin energy, the potential unfurling in the space between existence and non-existence.

"Why?" Sasuke rasped out mind still reeling. He grabbed Naruto's head and made their foreheads collide gently. Sasuke sighed out.

"It's you." Naruto said simply. As if that explained everything. As if that explained anything! Frustration, anger and guilt twisted in Sasuke's gut. Naruto's breath brushed Sasuke's cheeks. Eyes shut, Sasuke anchored himself to the sensation of their foreheads touching.

"I can't promise you anything."

"I don't want you to."

Fingers splayed themselves on Sasuke's chest above his heart. Sasuke's hand loosened from the back of Naruto's head, trailing through strands of awkward lengthening hair, gently sweeping around the nape of Naruto's neck in one smooth motion. Naruto's swallowed roughly when Sasuke's fingers hovered over the warmth and steady pulse of his jugular as Sasuke's hand moved up past his chin to rest on Naruto's cheek. Sasuke opened his eyes. Up close the mercury band in Naruto's eye shifted back into a faded blue. Sasuke could see Naruto's pupil expand into a huge dark orb.

Both he and Naruto, were barely breathing, not wanting to risk disrupting the moment. It was an eternal free fall. The hand on Sasuke's chest tightened its hold, Naruto slid his forehead across to the side of Sasuke's head, stepping into an embrace. The familiar sense of inevitability settled within Sasuke. He drank it in.

The hug was weird. One of Naruto's hands was sandwiched between them. The other went under the stump of Sasuke's right arm and wrapped around Sasuke's back. Sasuke's arm went around Naruto's shoulders. They were oddly tangled but the goal was achieved; they were together.

"We can't make the others wait." Naruto said after a while.

"Hn." They disentangled and began making their way to the meeting point. No doubt by now the others had sensed their proximity.

The meeting was held in one of the abandoned conference rooms on the mining site. The place was run down and so far out of the way of any civilization that it was unlikely any one would stumble upon it before or during the meeting.

"How is it that the ones who can travel across the world in the blink of an eye are the last to arrive?" Chojuro said smiling from his seat. Sasuke let Naruto mumble apologies as they took their seats.

"It's good to see you both well, Naruto." Gaara said, a little warmth seeping into his usually mellow tone. Gaara gave Sasuke a genial nod.The Kage exchanged a few pleasantries as they all settled. The news of the Otsutsuki attack had spread like wildfire throughout the five shinobi nations. Sasuke had caught wind of many versions of it in several different places. The story had gained a life of its own and changed beyond recognition in some parts. There had been stories that Sasuke had finally killed Naruto and was now ruling Konoha in secret. Other stories said he had sacrificed Boruto to summon the Otsutsuki then killed Naruto. Others said Naruto had betrayed Konoha and sided with Sasuke dramatically vowing to return and finish the job as they left. Most were too outlandish for anyone to consider as true but Sasuke was certain that the Kage were relieved to finally get a first hand account of their own.

"Okay," Naruto spoke up taking control of the room.

"Let's get down to business."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry if this chapter came out later than people expected. Life has been kicking me in the butt recently. 
> 
> For those who noticed there is a ridiculous amount of similarity here with a previous chapter "to believe" except the roles are now reversed.  
> Naruto saying "its you" instead if "i love you," I felt was more accurate. Naruto has loved many people but there are many things that he would do only because it is Sasuke. Saying I love you here, Sasuke would have called him out on it immediately and also Naruto is not ready to say it because... it's Sasuke. 
> 
> One more chapter in Sasuke's POV.
> 
> P.S. I am a cis-male, heads up i guess. it should hopefully clear up any pronoun issues or whatever image of me people have in their heads (it pertains to some comments that were nice but more personal so they won't be posted, so i just decided to respond this way. I don't know how to respond privately *shrugs*)
> 
> You may carry on.


	18. The Stone Warrior

Naruto paused mid-sentence in his address to the other Kage, eyes shifting and focusing on something far away in an expression Sasuke had come to associate with assimilating a clone's memories. Naruto had made no move to dispel his clones, so this clone must have met an unfortunate end. It didn't take long for Naruto to refocus on them again. Naruto turned to face Sasuke fully and hardened blue eyes connected with his.

"We need to get back to Konoha right now." Naruto said with great urgency. Sasuke stood already gathering his things.

"I'm sorry to cut things short," Naruto said to the other Kage, genuinely apologetic but already distracted by whatever had happened to his clone back in Konoha.

"But, the second Otsutsuki is attacking the village." Naruto finished as a portal opened up before them. Gaara called out to them before they stepped through.

"It might be best if the Kage come with you, Naruto. While Konoha is the best prepared for such a situation, battles with the Otsutsuki draw a lot of collateral. We must do whatever we can to minimize it." Gaara, confident in his logic, had already stood and approached Sasuke and Naruto. The other Kage followed suit, supporting Gaara's reasoning.

Sasuke caught each Kage confirming his new Rinnegan as discreetly as possible. They must have heard through their own people that he had awoken new Rinnegan. Sasuke thought it must have been obvious that something had changed with how he no longer hid his old Rinnegan behind his hair anymore: a habit he had tried to get back into but realised he had grown accustomed to seeing with both eyes and pushed the hair back unconsciously too often.

"Yeah. We will need to explain your sudden arrival though. To all the councils." Naruto spoke nodding along, brows slightly furrowed. Naruto's body twitched ever slightly towards the portal. Naruto was clearly worried and eager to return.Gaara was right though. Konoha had the strongest nin in its village, they were most likely out of the five nations to be able to withstand an attack of this magnitude. But at what cost? It was best to take the Kage with them. Politics be damned.

"We are doing what this alliance was made for: creating and defending peace. We will figure something out." Kurotsuchi stated with a smile. Sasuke internally noted that Kurotsuchi had the benefit of a governmental structure that could be loosely defined as authoritarian: her Coucil respected her strength and wouln't question her actions as Mitsukage. Chojuro and Naruto had the most to lose here, their relationships with their councils were most unstable.

"We will say that I brought you to Konoha to help with the battle. It is true enough." Sasuke said. Naruto raised his eyebrows and stated,

"That won't be enough to convince them, Sasuke." Especially in their current political climate went unsaid.

"It's enough for them not to publicly question it." Sasuke replied, eyes connecting with Naruto. They understood each other. Sasuke's notoriety and mystery had its uses. Sasuke smirked.

"Let's go." Sasuke said. Naruto jumped through and the others followed suit. Sasuke went in last, the portal closing behind him.

They landed on top of the Hokage mountain overlooking the whole village. Everyone could sense the disruptive chakra wrecking havoc in the city. Sasuke could see the dark alien chakra; an opaque orb surrounded by crimson corona. Dark chakra focused on him with the acuity of a Byaakugan. Even with the distance between them, their eyes connected. Sasuke's perspective shifted out of their current plane. Between one breath and the next, Sasuke and the Otsutsuki were suspended in an endless cosmic expanse where only they existed drifting slowly through the void. Everything about the Otsutsuki was pale, ghostly and devoid of humanity. He oozed the sort of amoral aura reservered for the irredeemable that set Sasuke on edge. A nasty smirk arose on the Otsutsuki's cheek; sharp, bloody and merciless.

"Sasuke," Naruto broke the moment with a hand to Sasuke's upper arm. The sight of Konoha flung itself before Sasuke with such force he felt disoriented. Naruto looked at him, face blank except for the determination and concern swirling in his eyes. Sasuke anchored himself in the contact their shared briefly.

"He knows we are here." Sasuke said. Naruto nodded. The all felt the rapidly approaching monstrosity. In the last second before impact, the kage split up into different directions. The mountain shook with the force of the Otsutsuki's landing. In the middle of the crater he had formed, the Otsutsuki stood giving all the Kages a careful considering look.

"You are a hardy bunch." The Otsutsuki rumbled. Stone warriors erupted from the ground to flank the pale warrior, all wielding weapons of different kinds and charged at them. The statues weren't strong. It was the sheer number of them that kept rising from the ground to replace the ones they destroyed. Not to mention weaving in and out of the Otsutsuki's attacks. Naruto summoned a dozen clones to even things out. It was odd that the Otsutsuki was using his Rinnegan, Sasuke noted.

Sasuke created a chidori senbon and fired them at the statues clearing the area. A pillar of sand slammed the Otsutsuki into the ground then a wave of lava from Kurotsuchi enveloped the Otsutsuki and began to harden. A sheet of ice started growing onto of the lava, Chojuro's hands forming a complimentary ice release seal to Kurotsuchi's lava seal. The seals crept up the Otsutsuki's body locking him in place.

The Otsutsuki looked at the seals in mild interest as they latched onto his chest.

"Quite innovative as well." The Otsutsuki praised in a bored tone.

"You've lost. Now tell us, why are you here?" Naruto questioned. The lava and ice had covered the Otsutsuki's throat and stopped there.

"Have I lost? Hmm, we'll have to reevaluate that statement when we meet brightly clad one." The Otsutsuki rumbled then looked at Sasuke with a maudlin expression. They watched as the Otsutsuki turned into a stone statue before their eyes.

"What just happened?" Chojuro asked releasing his seal. Kurotsuchi did the same and all they were left with was a lifeless statue. Darui moved to it and cut the statue with a lightning enhanced blade. It went straight through, the statue was just regular stone.

"Where did that bastard go?" Darui asked, sifting half-heartedly through the rubble. Sasuke looked at Naruto,

"Can you sense him nearby?" Sasuke couldn't see the Otsutsuki chakra. Now that Sasuke thought about it. He hadn't seen the same massive dark energy when they were fighting either. Naruto seemed to coming to the same conclusion as well.

"We were fighting a statue the whole time." Naruto murmured. Sasuke nodded.

"This was a distraction." Sasuke said urgently to Naruto. Naruto immediately understood the implications giving a sharp nod to Sasuke as his face hardened. There was few things that the Otsutsuki would need a distraction for. Top of the list would be a jailbreak.

He was trying to extract Otsutsuki Akumu.

"What does he need-" the two did not stay to hear the rest of the question. They raced off to Konoha's maximum security prison. Sasuke slipped ahead of Naruto once inside as he was able to move quicker around all the twists and bends of the fortress.

He arrived too late. Akumu was free of her seals being held by the unknown Otsutsuki. Sasuke could see the red malice of his chakra now; a sense of an asteroid looming over Sasuke before impact. What Sasuke had not expected was to see Sarada and Nara Shikadai there facing off against each other.

The Nara child was not holding back. He was going for the kill. There was a disconcerting emptiness to his eyes that resembled the Otsutsuki. The boy lept out of Sarada's reach and beside the Otsutsuki. Sarada went out to reach him but stopped herself when her eyes connected with Akumu.

"Sarada," Sasuke called out coming to stand beside her. His chakra flared protectively, yin potential pouring into reality in a purple haze that darkened to a midnight amethyst around him and Sarada. Sasuke knew his Rinnegan were glowing enhanced by the burn of the Eternal Mangekyou behind it. The world itched to bend to his will.

Sasuke leveled the Otsutsuki a challenging stare. He had destroyed asteroids and planetoids before. He could and would do it again. A golden glow appeared beside Sasuke; wind and fire chakra rushing to meet him. Naruto had arrived. Their chakras melded together and synergised into an inferno, waiting to be released.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Akumu laughed out to the other Otsutsuki.

"I'll show you beautiful." Naruto growled tensing up to attack.

"Uh, uh, uh." Akumu cautioned motioning to Shikadai. The boy immediately turned the kunai in his hand on himself, blinking slowly as he stared ahead. Naruto froze in his tracks.

"Dai." Sarada called out. Her chakra flaring out as well as she tried to place him a genjutsu. The genjutsu bounced off, the dojutsu not even appearing in Shikadai's eyes. The kunai moved just above Shikadai's heart. Akumu laughed out again.

"Ah, I was hoping to kill you before your father arrived but Sasuke always spoils my fun." Akumu laughed again, her hair flaring out and her Byaakugan glowing silver in the dim light. She came back to herself, laughter cutting off abruptly when the other Otsutsuki placed his hand on her shoulder. A flicker of emptiness settled on her face for the briefest moment before a malevolent sneer overtook her.

"Unfortunately, we must take our leave." A breach in the dimension opened up behind them. The unknown Otsutsuki activated the Rinnegan in his right palm sending a repulsive wave that shatter the ceiling and tore through the foundations of the ceiling. The Otsutsuki disappeared through the breach.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called out. Sasuke knew Sarada would be alright with Naruto. He sped towards Shikadai, ripping the kunai out of his grasp and engulfing them in the Susanoo. The building collapsed around them in a great catastrophic crash. Debris bouncing harmlessly of the Susanno. Through gaps in the wreckage, Sasuke could see bits of Kurama's golden form on the other side of the room.

The sound of the crash still lingered in the silence after the collapse like an echo. Sasuke's ears rang.

"Shikadai." Sasuke called out. The boy did not respond, instead staring straight ahead until he started chuckling. Their eyes met and Sasuke saw the Otsutsuki amorality shine through.

"Sasuke, was it? Qin Shi." The boy said, voice lilting oddly and smirking emptily as he pointed to himself. 

"We'll meet again soon." Stone grow outwards from the boy's eyes like blotches of ink seeping through a page. Sasuke could do nothing but watch as Shikadai turned into a stone statue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One word: mid-terms.  
> This brings us to the end of Sasuke's POV. Introducing Otsutsuki Qin Shi, named after the first Chinese emperor and the emperor of the terracotta army more importantly to me. Akumu means nightmare.  
> So, we got to 'see'Shikadai Nara or as Sarada refers to him 'Dai' *cough*. Shikadai is alive though dont worry.  
> Naruto's point of view will be again, dealing with political ramifications. The Hyuuga will now enter the picture with their schemes and a true confession is fast approaching.  
> Thanks for reading!  
> P.s. sorry for the editing errors in this chapter.


	19. Act 2:  These Battlegrounds (Naruto's POV)

Naruto often wondered how the previous Hokage had managed without as many clones as he did. There was too much to plan and consider, too many people to consult. The sun had long since set and a full moon light up the night sky. Konoha was still buzzing with energy: reeling from the aftershock of the Otsutsuki attack.

Another clone walked in with another lengthy scroll. This one from Sakura in the hospital.

"Man, I'd hate to be you." The clone sighed dropping the scroll onto the desk. Naruto gave it a wan smile.

"You are me, idiot."

"Nah, soon I won't exist so...this, isn't really mine to worry about." the clone smirked at him waving a hand at the growing pile of scrolls marked 'urgent' on Naruto's desk. The clone was too damn smug.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto harped back picking up the scroll. It was from Sakura. There had been no more deaths after those who had survived had been taken to the emergency room. There was also a little private note from her warning him from using his clones for too long. His mind hadn't fully recovered from the genjutsu. Otherwise, the rest of the scroll was detailing all the nin that were out of commission and for how long.

It was a long list.

Naruto gave a tired sigh and dispelled the clone in a burst of smoke. The nin had successfully defended the village. People had died: civilians, lower level nin and the prisoners and guards during the prison building's collapse. Of course, there was the issue of Otsutsuki Akumu and this Qin Shi character. No one knew where they were, if they were even still in the same dimension. People wanted answers and reassurance: the Council more than anyone. Naruto still hadn't heard from the clone he had sent to see the Council.

The door opened and Shikamaru walked in, just as Naruto felt a shift in his sense of Sasuke's chakra and the man appeared right in the office. Shikamaru startled slightly at Sasuke's sudden appearance.

"I though there were anti-teleportation seals in this room." Shikamaru grumbled.

"There are." Both Naruto and Sasuke replied. Shikamaru looked at them both. Naruto shrugged. Whenever Sasuke tried to explain it, Naruto rapidly lost interest due to all the space-time jargon involved in the explanation. It was cool. But not worth paying attention to Sasuke's lectures on temporal physics, quantised dimensionality expression and lord knows what else. Naruto remembered the fond disgust he'd felt when he'd seen Boruto and Sasuke bond over some mathematical chakra expressions.

_"That's what I said!" Boruto exclaimed in vindication, blue eyes shining in excitement. Boruto's face flushed pink when Sasuke raised an eyebrow._

_"Well, maybe I didn't say it like that. But isn't it obvious that the resonance patterns when molding the chakra can be expressed as function in the form of..." The boy began scribbling on the board in front of them, pubescent voice cracking but the boy too taken by mathematics to care. Naruto tried and failed to reign in his laughter. Boruto wasn't amused. Naruto hadn't missed the amusement in the quirk of Sasuke's lips though._

Shikamaru shook his head. Not looking for the explanation that was clearly not being offered. He placed a pile of completed papers on Naruto's desk.

"Has there been any news on Shikadai?" Shikamaru asked, face betraying nothing. Naruto picked a pile of papers he'd set aside just for this and handed them to Shikamaru.

"Both Ino and Sakura believe that Shikadai is alive, or was alive when the jutsu was still active. That would be the only way for the statue to mimic Shikadai's chakra signature as well as it did. We cannot place when Shikadai was taken-"

"A week and a half ago." Shikamaru interrupted. Naruto raised his eyebrows in question. Shikamaru sighed out as he looked through the papers.

"That was when the odd behaviour started. We just... we assumed it was teenage issues." Shikamaru's eyes continued scanning through the documents not looking up at the other occupants of the room. The air was awkward. Naruto didn't know what to say to man whose son had been taken right under their very noses. Naruto was well acquainted with the feeling of having failed your children and having grossly misread what they were going through. Shikamaru's face was drawn tight, his chakra potential wound up like a compressed spring. All his movements were deliberate, his perpetual slouch was gone.

"Shika, maybe you should go home for the night." Naruto suggested lowly. Shikamaru continued scanning through the scrolls Naruto had given him as if he hadn't heard. Naruto looked to Sasuke for help. Sasuke's face was carefully blank but there was empathy lurking in his eyes.

"There is work to be done. Besides, I don't feel like going to an empty house." Shikamaru said leaving no room for argument. He grabbed a pile of papers from the to-do list on Naruto's desk and made his way to the door.

"Where is Temari?" Naruto called out. Shikamaru paused by the threshold, hand already on twisting the door knob.

"She went with Gaara to coordinate her own search from there in order to cover more area." Shikamaru sighed out not turning to look at either Naruto or Sasuke. He walked out, shutting the door firmly behind him.

"I wish there was more we could do for him." Naruto gave his frustrated sigh. Unless they held crucial information, a kidnapped nin wasn't that high a priority. Given the state of Konoha at the moment, finding Shikadai had moved even further down the list.

"We will find Shikadai." Sasuke said quietly. Naruto quirked a smile at Sasuke's simple drive. Sasuke had spent the rest of the day transporting the Kage -- and Temari-- back to their first meeting place in Iron Country. He and a clone of Naruto's had continued the meeting with the Kage. They all agreed, Akumu's escape posed a great security risk to all nations. She had Naruto's knowledge of all their strengths and weaknesses. She may not have her Rinnegan anymore but Qin Shi did. They had seen that Qin Shi could raise an army and even replace people with his statues with no one being the wiser.

"So are ya gonna go chase after Qin Shi?" Naruto asked leaning back into his chair and clasping his hands behind his head. He really should do something about his hair. It hadn't been this long in more than a decade. Sasuke, on the other hand, now that he wasn't using his hair to hide his Rinnegan, it fell into a more natural style. It looked good, chaotic yet tamed: electric almost. It looked really good.

Sasuke sat down opposite Naruto shaking his head,

"Not directly. Ino says it should be too draining to maintain the jutsu used to create the statues from too far away. The Yamanaka may now control them with their mind transfer jutsu but the statue's integrity is still maintained by Qin Shi's chakra."

"How far is too far for an Otsutsuki though?"

"Hn. Karin and some other sensors are checking to see if they are still in our dimension."

"So what will you be doing?" Naruto asked.

"There may be more people missing. Those in more remote areas, without immediate aid."

Naruto nodded. The Hyuuga were using the Byaakugan to verify everyone in Konoha's identity by checking their chakra pathways. It made sense Sasuke would use his Rinnegan to do something similar outside of Konoha. If Qin Shi was building an army, it would make sense to gather his ranks using people no one would miss. Naruto was about to speak when a clone burst into the room, door slamming shut behind him. Sasuke looked at the real Naruoo with raised eyebrows. Naruto shrugged. Naruto watched the emotions play out on a copy of his face. The clone was angry. Not the fun type of angry or the angry that could be worked out with violence but the stewing ire that lingered long after the incident that had caused it.

"Hurry up and dispel me already. I've had a rough day." The clone muttered. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the clone. Sure, Naruto's clones tended to be loaded with enough chakra to develop quirks resembling a personality but this was just too much.

"You think you're the only one who's having a rough day?" Naruto snarked right back. From the corner if his eye, Naruto could see Sasuke roll his eyes. The clone sneered at Naruto,

"You think your day is bad now-" Sasuke loudly cleared his throat cutting the clone off. The clone was affronted.

"Teme," the clone began marching towards Sasuke. The clone dispersed mid-stride in a cloud of smoke. Naruto winced as the memories slotted into his mind, weaving their way through his awareness. Kurama's presence slammed against the confines of the jiinchuriki seal, teeth bared and breath coming out in enraged huffs.

Those fools wouldn't dare! The force of the fox's ire sent sparks of kyuubi chakra echoing throughout Naruto.

"Naruto!" Sasuke's voice brought Naruto back to reality. His body was taut and his hands had curled into fists on the desk. The world was doused in a faint grey-green that persisted even in the shadows. Naruto willed himself to relax, taking a deep silent breath and anchoring himself to Sasuke's hand on his shoulder. Kurama's chakra receded and the world returned to its usual lively tone.

"I'm fine." Naruto said. Sasuke didn't reply.

"The Council suggested binding the kyuubi and creating jinchuuruki again as added insurance against the Otsutsuki." Kurama was growling his displeasure in the recesses of Naruto's mind. Sasuke snorted.

" Do they seriously think you and the other Kage will ever agree to that?"

"They weren't planning on getting the other nations involved." Naruto muttered. Sasuke's eyes widened and his hand fell away from Naruto's shoulder as he gave a deep frustrated sigh.

"It's fine, Sasuke. I'll deal with it." Naruto said.

"Hn." Naruto snorted.

"I should be saying that to you."

"I didn't say anything." Sasuke said with quiet amusement. Sasuke was sitting on the desk in front of Naruto, having moved when Naruto was integrating the clone's memories. Naruto swirled his chair to face Sasuke fully, feeling a grin on his face.

"No. It's what you meant though. 'Hn, don't do anything stupid loser.'" Naruto said imitating Sasuke's stern low voice but losing it with a light laugh that bubbled to the surface at the end. Sasuke gave a low neutral hum of consideration but Naruto could see the amusement twinkling in his dark orbs.

"Why would you need to say that to me, of all people?" Sasuke's low tone rose like a quiet midnight tide, capturing Naruto and drawing him in to sea.

"Uh-huh, don't act so high and mighty Mr. My Body Moved On It's Own." Naruto gave him a playfully shrewd look leaning in closer.

"It does. When it comes to you, it does." Sasuke said with a minute shrug. Their eyes connected and a heat brewed between them for as long as they held each other's gaze. The heat melted Sasuke's carefully constructed look into a gaze so intimate Naruto felt blood rush to his cheeks.

They looked away at the same time. Unfortunately they looked both looked to the window. Naruto saw Sasuke's reflection as the closed his eyes and let the warmth receded from his countenance in a single exhale. There was a trace of regret and confusion flickering over Sasuke's face before the calm mein was firmly in place. Naruto felt his own regret and frustration well up within him. He looked down at his fists loosely clenched on his lap.

Naruto knew what he felt and what he wanted. For the first time, the words of what Sasuke was to him beyond 'friend' had form (even if they words still fell far short of the meaning .) Yet now that he could say it, Naruto found himself uncharacteristically hesitant. Loving Hinata had been easy, at first at least. Naruto never had to deal with the weight of longing, the sparkling excitement or the bubbling anticipation before they'd become a couple. Hinata's love had just...been, and when they got together, Naruto had immersed himself in loving her back and finally, finally, having a piece of normalcy.

Taking a step further in his relationship with Sasuke was different. Naruto had lived amongst prostitutes and alcoholics most of his childhood. A relationship between men wasn't something new to him. Naruto, himself, found either sex appealing though for different reasons. He didn't advertise it but those close to him knew: Hinata, Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke and Shikamaru. If anyone asked, Naruto wouldn't have lied to them. Not anymore, he had long moved past that. The issue lay in how much of Naruto, Sasuke possessed. Naruto had never confessed his love like this. He had never bared his heart like this. The begging, pleading, shouting and screaming at World's End didn't compare. Thinking about it left Naruto breathless, hope tightened his chest and threatened to squeeze the emotions out. But his head and thoughts of rejection pinned him in place. Sasuke may love him, may even want him. But in the end, Sasuke could choose not to: goodness knows they both had reasons not to.

Naruto raised his head from his lap back at their reflections in the window. A sombre smile was on his face not quite reaching his eyes. Naruto remembered when he first came to recognize the feel of that smile on his face. Sasuke was looking at him intently through their reflections, had been for a bit probably. Sasuke's face was impassive, as expected, and the intensity of his dark eyes leaping out of the translucent image on the window pane and piercing through Naruto's chest.

"When are you leaving?"

"First light."

"You should get some rest." Naruto turned to face Sasuke. Sasuke hummed a noise of assent while turning to face him as well.

"So should you." Dark eyes quietly assessed Naruto.

"I promise, I will." Sasuke stood up and made to move around Naruto on his way round the desk back to his side opposite Naruto but his paused just beside Naruto and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto looked up from his seat at the contact, Sasuke wasn't quite looking at him. He disappeared, his chakra signature reappearing some distance away still in Konoha.

Naruto let out a gutsy exhale and returned to his longing and his work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first of the second act from Naruto's pov. As we know, Naruto's the more social of the two so we get to see more pieces move in the story from his eyes. We have the Shikadai issue, the Otsutsuki issue, the Council now wanting to recreate the jinchuuruki for more power against the Otsutsuki or so they say and soon the Hyuuga.  
> Sasuke is teleporting all over the place because yes, the Hyuuga are still spying.  
> We inch ever closer to the confession. 3rd chapter I think?  
> There will be some NaruHina interaction at soooome point.  
> P.s. I hadn't wanted to include the exploration on their sexuality on this story but it sort of just came out. It felt weirder to avoid it. Anyway, so far we've address Naruto. We will expand on it later when Naruto and Sasuke discussing why their attraction only became romantic/sexual enough for them to address now.


	20. An Uprising

Naruto walked slowly up the stairs to his daughter's bedroom door. Walking in the house he used to call home should have felt more awkward Naruto thought. He'd noted that there were tiny differences scattered all over the house. Photos of just him and Hinata had been removed, replaced with pictures of Boruto and Himawari. The furniture had been moved around a bit, just enough that Naruto found himself unconsciously doing double takes of each room. Naruto was certain the colour of the curtains had changed.

The house felt.. different. Naruto wasn't sure what it was. He raised his hand to knock softly on Himawari's door but she answered before the first rap of his knuckles against the door.

"Come in, dad."

Naruto stepped in. She sat on her bed with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. A nasty bruise bloomed on her cheek. Her dojutsu was active, given the angry veins on her cheek and the unnerving stare of the blue-white Byaakugan. It explained how she had identified it was him through the door. Naruto shut the door behind him with a soft click.

Naruto knelt in front of her and reached out to her cheek. Tracing a path around the worst of the bruising and swelling. Hinata said Hima had refused any help with her injuries, she wouldn't even look Hinata in the eye. Even now, she turned away from Naruto's gaze biting her lip as a single tear slid down her cheek.

"Hima, honey." Naruto said softly trying to stay in her line of sight. His hand began glowing faintly with his yang healing jutsu. The glowing spread onto Himawari as the bruises faded and the swelling receded. Naruto guessed she had been hiding more injuries with the way Hima straightened under her blankets as the jutsu continued its work. Using the yang healing jutsu was a bit of an overkill considering that Hima's injuries weren't life threatening but Naruto had never been much of healer. Between Kurama and his own natural affinity for quick recovery, he hadn't needed to be. When anyone he cared was injured he tended to just use that jutsu cause it was the best he could offer aside from the basics all genin were taught.

Naruto moved to sit next to her on the bed throwing an arm around her. Tears slipped from her eyes freely and she hid her face in his chest. Naruto let her cry silently as he played with her hair, a weight sinking into his chest. He pressed a kiss of comfort onto her head; comfort for them both. She was just a child. His child. Naruto pressed a kiss onto her head again.

Hima moved back out of his space, wiping away the tears from her faces, still not meeting his gaze. Naruto wiped away any stray moisture left on her cheek with his hand.

"Hey Hima, want to tell me what happened?" Naruto whispered. Himawari finally looked at him, her nornal eyes a pale skyline blue, barely bluer than a Byaakugan.

"You're the Hokage, Dad. I'm sure someone has already told you." Hima evaded. Naruto gave her a soft smile.

"Yeah, they may have told me about the uprising in the Hyuuga compound, but they didn't tell me what happened to you. I wanna hear what you have to say, believe it." Naruto said. Himawari looked at him briefly, that same trademark Hyuuga stare, before turning away as she started to speak.

"There were rumours that the secondary branch had found a way to remove the Caged Bird Seal which was started the Uprising. Some of the secondary branch kids got too excited and started challenging the main branch but they.. still had the seal on them." She turned away then. Naruto could see where this was going. Kids using such seals on each other. Horrific. Exactly what he had been hoping to avoid. Naruto moved closer to his daughter then, tightening his hold on her shoulder.

"They wouldn't stop. So I... Sora called me a traitor, 'a mongrel that should have been caged along with her one eyed freak brother.'" Himawari's Byaakugan rose to the forefront and her veins protruded as dark branches on her face in righteous anger. Himawari developing a Byaakugan had thrown most people off, so had Boruto developing the Jougan. Sasuke, Kakashi and Tsunade concluded the Hyuuga knew what the Jougan was but were keeping very quiet about it. Eye mutations were kept in the strictest confidences in the Hyuuga clan. Hinata, even when she had been the heir, could not gain access to the information. Hanabi, had informed him she could not find out anything until she took the mantle of clan head. The Yamanaka clan scrolls concerning the Hyuuga had been blood-sealed by both the Hyuuga and Yamanaka clan heads. Ino would have helped but Hiashi...  
Hinata said it was good enough that her father hadn't done anything.

"Hima-"

"I wasn't about to let them drag Boruto into this. I have a Byaakugan so I'm fair game- "

"Hima-"

"I even offered to let them use the seal on-"

"You did what?" Naruto, voice low and serious, cut her off. Himawari eyes widened, her Byakugan fading away again, as she realised what she said.

"Don't worry, mom convinced me not to."

"Don't worry about it? Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto asked icredulously.

"You were in hospital at the time." Himawari mumbled, guilt leaking into her voice. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"And since then?"

"I've been busy alright! When was I supposed to tell you or see you even! Everything was just so..." she threw her hands in the air and collapsed into her bed. Naruto felt that familiar twinge of guilt stir up within him. He knew what she meant. Sure, after the whole incident with Boruto's first chuunin exams, Naruto had made the effort to interact with his family more but they all spent that time trying to be as happy with each other as possible. Deep honest conversations didn't really happen between him and his family. Even after the kids had learnt of the divorce, nothing much had changed in their interactions as a family even when Naruto had moved out of the house. Naruto just wanted everyone to be happy.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around much, Hima. Especially after I promised I would be better." Himawari peered up at him and sat up.

"It's not as bad as it was before. I get it, Dad. I know you're busy being Hokage." Himawari gave him an understanding smile. Naruto gave a rueful smile in return. As a parent, having your children be understanding of your situation was a curse as much as it was blessing. You never really wanted your children to feel like they had to cut you some slack. Still, Naruto was happy that there wasn't any resentment like that like which had brewed between him and Boruto a couple of years ago.

He ruffled her hair till she pushed his hand away with a playful grumble. Himawari's hair had darkened even further to a nightsky blue, just below her shoulders like most of the Hyuuga.

"Still, Hima, you should have told me."

"Yeah, I'm sorry dad. I just...everyone was fighting so much." Naruto sighed and gave her a hug and peck onto her head.

"I know honey. Get some rest. I'm glad you're ok." Hima nodded and fell back onto her bed with a sigh of her own.

Naruto made his way back down stairs, where Hinata was waiting in the living room. They had agreed to talk after he had seen Himawari. Naruto sat on the opposite end of the couch.

"How is she?"

"She is ok: very angry and shaken but ok." Hinata gave a quiet laugh at that.

"How are you?" Naruto asked. Hinata looked at her hands briefly.

"I am fine. How are you?" She asked looking at him.

"I'm fine." Naruto replied lamely also looking down at his hands. There was an awkward silence between them, a vacuum searching desperately for something to fill the void. Where to start, what to say, what could Naruto still say and what couldn't he say anymore? They both glanced at each other, mouths open about to break the silence. Naruto gave an empty chuckle. The scene was so similar to their interactions when they first got together. Except now, there was no blushing involved, no secret glances or air of bashful expectancy.

"I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that talking is so hard." Hinata said quietly. Naruto hummed in vague agreement. Pretending nothing had changed between seemed impossible now that it was just them and no one to perform for.

"What happened today?" Naruto asked quietly. Hinata gave him a disapproving stare.

"Hyuuga business or not, what happened today is in my jurisdiction, as Hokage and as your... as Hima's father." Naruto said.

"They've been rumours of some branch members having found a way to remove the seal. Those same branch members haven't been seen in Konoha for a while as well. Some say it's the sign of an uprising, others think something more sinister is at work."

"Which one do you think it is?" Hinata paused not expecting the question.

"Both. There is, without a doubt, some sort of uprising going on and the seal, is a very powerful blood seal. It's never been broken. If they've broken it, who knows who they are aligned with."

Naruto feared as much. At the moment he had a clone with Shikamaru in the Hokage office and another in the Hyuuga compound meeting with Hiashi and the other Hyuuga elders. Things were quiet again. Naruto had run out of things to say.

"Was it always this hard to talk to each other?" Naruto wondered out loud.

"We never really tried to talk." Hinata replied, a tiny resigned smile on her face that Naruto had long thought was a gentle acceptance.

"We talked," Naruto defended them. Hinata gave him a wan look.

"Just not about the important things, like Neji." Hinata amended for him with a jab that hit close to home. Neji was a sore spot for them both. Even now, Naruto did not want to discuss Neji's memory. Not until, he had fulfilled his promise to him.

"Or your whole family," Naruto grumbled.

"And your depression." The words caught Naruto off-guard. Shock and guilt churned in his stomach. He couldn't even find the words to deny it. Naruto looked away.

"It isn't that bad." The words rang false even to his own ears.

"There were dozens of you running around town everyday. The one you sent home may have looked happy but the rest of them couldn't always quite manage it." Naruto finally turned to face his ex-wife. There was no disappointment in her eyes like he had feared. There was compassion in her milky blue-grey eyes. So much of it Naruto thought he would drown.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Naruto whispered.

"I wanted to respect your desire to keep it private. Then later, I just didn't want to hear that I was the cause." The resigned smile reappeared on Hinata face. Naruto understood her then. When Hinata had been the Hyuuga heir, she had been criticized for not being strong enough or loud enough to lead the clan. Just as Naruto had carried the fear of abandonment, she had carried the fear of failure.

"Hinata, I promise," Naruto began earnestly, sliding over to her side of the couch.

"It wasn't you or anything you did. I've just always been like that, even as a kid."

"Then why did you hide it?"

"I...don't know, force of habit maybe?" Naruto leaned back into his own space and end of the couch. Silence descended again. Naruto made to stand up and leave.

"Naruto-kun... do you think...should we have tried harder... to fix things?" Hinata asked. Naruto had wondered as well. Whether they had given up too quickly or if Hinata had been waiting for Naruto to protest their separation.

"I...don't know." Naruto answered honestly. Regrets or no, they were here now: for better or for worse.

"If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask." He'd said the same thing when they'd formailsed the divorce. It wasn't the answer Hinata was looking for if the resigned smile was anything to go by.

"The same to you Naruto-kun."

That was it then. Naruto found his own way out of the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the introduction to the Hyuuga Uprising. How did they manage to remove the cursed seal? Introduction to Hinata and Himawari. Boruto was supposed to make an appearance but that would have dragged the chapter on for longer than I would have liked and would have included too much movement.  
> Anyway, coming up next will be Naruto and Hiashi sitting down to chat (ex- father and son in law and also political rivals) then Sasuke will come back with news.


	21. The Secrets of Hyuuga

Hiashi had been many things over the years in Naruto's life. Tall, dark hair, fair skinned and imposing being the most prominent one. The man was stern, direct, pragmatic, privileged and powerful. He had kept the Hyuuga a dominant force in the nin world during a tumultuous time and carried that into an era of relative peace and cooperation. The man was not one to be trifled with or treated lightly. Even now when most of his hair was grey, lines on his faces prominent and age had begun to whittle down his imposing features, Hiashi still demanded respect with a single glance.

The memories of the last clone to visit the Hyuuga compound had ended with the promise of another private meeting between Naruto and Hiashi and a stern warning to not have the Head of Hyuuga meet a clone before Hiashi pressed two fingers to the clones temple, somehow tapping the tenketsu in such a way to cause the clone to forcibly disperse.

But Hiashi was also the man who bowed before his own nephew, who spoke through and quelled Neji's rage and anger at the injustice within the Hyuuga clan. Hiashi spoke plainly and publicly of his doubts in the clan's caste system despite him being the leader of said clan. Hiashi was a man who, despite his misgivings of Naruto and Hinata's marriage, did not rescind his blessing. Hiashi doted on his grandchildren, so much so that Hima and Boruto never believed the stories Hinata told of the terrifying father she had grown under.

Hiashi was a complex man. That was not factoring in their relationship as in-laws...former in-laws now, Naruto reminded himself. To have the man before him now in the Hokage office was nothing short of a miracle. One Naruto was certain was only because the Hyuuga were now on the brink of their own civil war. Hiashi cooly eyed the other two men in the room.

"Hokage-sama, I was led to believe this was a private meeting."

"There have been...developments." Naruto replied with the same grave neutrality. Hiashi blinked.

"Hm, of what kind?" Hiashi was clearly unimpressed but taking great care not to show it.

"A nin was found by the border of the land of fire. He had been a captive of the Otsutsuki and reported seeing other captives there, primarily of the Hyuuga clan." Naruto let Hiashi draw his own conclusions. There was little doubt that the captured Hyuuga were the members of the secondary branch that were claiming to have removed the seal.

"This nin, why and how did he escape by himself?" Hiashi asked. There was a pause. Shikamaru visibly straightened out of his slouch. His chakra reflexively coiled itself as if readying itself for battle in a purely emotional reaction that wasn't missed by anyone in the room. When they had found Shikadai he had been using a forbidden Nara clan jutsu to transfer his memories into his shadow and getting ready to detach it and send a message to Konoha. Shikamaru had explained the process was the equivalent of cutting off a limb. In his state, Shikadai wouldn't have survived the jutsu.

"Nara-sama, I am glad your son was found." Hiashi's words were said genuinely, a silent apology to the implication of his previous statement.Shikamaru gave a tight nod.

"Do we know if they are prisoners?" Hiashi asked.

"They are being drained of their chakra while trapped in Qin Shi's statue seal. Whether they went to him willingly or not is of no concern to us at the moment. They are still citizens of Konoha." Naruto asserted. Hiashi nodded.

"Are you planning a rescue mission then?"

Therein lay the problem. Naruto and Shikamaru had discussed the possibility, but Konoha simply could not spare enough nin for a mission of this nature and gravity without leaving Konoha exposed. Unless...

"The Hyuuga would need to lead the mission."

"Just the Hyuuga?"

"I will be joining the party." Naruto would provide the numbers via his clones and his reserves of chakra as well. Hiashi did not appear to be convinced.

"It is a chance to ease tensions between the branches, save your family and show the Hyuuga that the Hokage's office is behind them." Hiashi's mask of indifference fell away with a heavy sigh and a glance heavenward. Naruto could sense the gears turning and the plans being formulated in Hiashi's mind. Hiashi's gaze returned to the trio.

"I agree with you Hokage-sama, we must work together now more than ever to achieve a peaceful resolution."

We should have working together long before things got to this point, Naruto thought to himself unimpressed.  
  
"You know where I stand on the Hyuuga matter." Naruto said.

"You know my position as well, Hokage-sama." Hiashi's voice carried a hint of disapproval. What did he expect Naruto to do?

"My hands have been tightly bound in regards to anything concerning the Hyuuga." Naruto said sternly. He was not looking to play the blame game but he was certainly not going to be pushed into cleaning up the mess that had brewing in that clan for generations. Hiashi raised his eyebrows in faint surprise then laughed lightly.

"It still surprises me how little you understand of clan politics or of dojutsu clans." The statement was said too lightly to be condescending.

"Naruto, I may be the head of the clan but if I move too far out of line. The clan can and will get rid of me. They've done it before. After all, even the Uchiha threw Madara out when he did conform to their new ideals. No one is above the perceived well-being of the clan."

Shikamaru had told him many times that the clans all had their own way of doing things. Had their reasons for doing things that way, other than just to keep up traditions. 

"Be that as it may, I cannot help you if I do not know anything. You must understand that." Naruto implored. Hiashi gave a quiet, tired sigh.

"You are right, something has to give." Hiashi leaned back sighing to the ceiling.

"What do you need to know?"

"Why the seal?" Naruto asked. What secret was so important that it was worth subjugating an entire half of the family? Hiashi gave a cursory glance to the other two members in the room. Without a word, Shikamaru and Sasuke left the room. Hiashi steeled himself before starting again.

"Otsutsuki Kaguya's actions with the God Tree forever mixed her rikudou chakra with this worlds senjutsu. Dojutsu are a manifestation of rikudou chakra, they were never part of this world until Kaguya's arrival." Naruto nodded along with Hiashi's words. This was the prevailing theory on the nature of chakra, everyone knew of this to an extent.

"All other dojutsu, are results of specific rikudou chakra interaction with this worlds chakra. That is, all other dojutsu except the Sharingan are descendants of the Byaakugan."

"And what does that mean exactly?"

"If anyone were to get their hands on the Byaakugan they could essentially create their own dojutsu from it."

"Still," Naruto said, "dojutsu are very rare though."

"The stable ones that dont drive the users into murderous insanity are rare." Hiashi said with a thin smile.

"There are stories all over the known world. Stories many think legend or tall tales, of insane people with bright eyes wrecking havoc in the world all stemming from descendants of the Byaakugan." Naruto had heard the wild stories when he had travelling with Jiraiya. He and Jiraiya had not paid much heed to the stories. If such dojutsu existed they would have by found by then or people would have started wars over them.

"The Hyuuga weren't the only clan to inherit the Byaakugan. Before the founding of the villages, when the Byaakugan clans realised what was going on, they started banding together to try preserving their bloodlines without giving birth to monsters. Those that didn't, " Hiashi paused a faraway look in his eyes: a multitude of sins from generations passed flashed in his eyes. Naruto could picture it. Entire clans wiped out as a precautionary measure against a power they could not understand.

"With the nin wars and the passing of time, the other clans died out until the Hyuuga were the only clan left by the time Konoha was founded." Hiashi continued abruptly. Naruto's mind was reeling at the information.

"The seal then. Why the seal?" Naruto repeated as he digested the new information. Hiashe harumphed.

"Intermarriage is a necessity. We had to ensure once a Hyuuga left the clan or had someone married into the clan they would not pass on the gene for a mutated Byaakugan. That is why only the secondary branch could marry outside the clan."

"What about Boruto?"

"The Jougan isn't a descendant of the Byaakugan like othe dojutsu. That is why we could not detect it when he was younger. It is a forced manifestation caused by the influx of power from that curse mark of his much like how Otsutsuki Hagoromo's chakra triggered a Rinnegan in Uchiha Sasuke." That made a lot of sense.

"What does that mean for Boruto? The Jougan has been seen before."

"Once. The circumstances of awakening are different so there is even less to go on. He is my grandson, I won't intentionally leave him in the dark." Hiashi stated, his eyes paling to grey before quickly returning to their pale blue.

"I know that." Naruto said truthfully.

"I just want to understand, to prepare him for what may come." Naruto implored. 

"Any father would." Hiashi responded. Both of them realised just how close the conversation was wondering to family stuff they weren't willing to talk about. As far as the divorce was concerned, Hiashi and Hinata's mother had arrived unannounced one evening when Naruto had been home with his family. Naruto's mother had asked him if this was truly the path they wished to take, voice tight barely restraining her disappointment. That had been the last time she had acknowledged Naruto outside of his role as Hokage.

The air became awkward, unbearably so. Naruto supressed the urge to cringe and turn away. His fingers began drumming against the desk, breaking the silence that had descended with an even worse light fidgety rap of fingernails on wood. Naruto stared at his traitorous fingers in dismay.

"I need to convince the rest of the Hyuuga about this plan of yours and gather the nin to join you." Hiashi said drawing Naruto's attention back to him. Naruto nodded. Hiashi turned and left, the click of the door signaling his departure.

Naruto leaned back into his chair letting out a long, drawn out groan. He pushed his chair away from his desk and swirled around on the chair's wheels with a blank stare at the ceiling. Naruto let the relief was over him, his eyes fluttering closed and a tiny smile on his lips. He had survived a meeting with his former father in law and had even made some progress the evolving matter of the Hyuuga and the invading Otsutsuki.

Someone cleared their throat. Naruto cracked an eyelid open to see Sasuke on the other side of the desk.

"I'm sorry to intrude." Sasuke said, voice dripping with mocking politeness. Naruto's chair slowly came to a stop.

"Bastard. Where is Shikamaru?" Naruto said snorted in greeting.

"He went to check on Shikadai." Sasuke said as he walked round the desk and sat on it.

"You should be getting ready for your mission." Sasuke said. Naruto hummed in agreement, eyeing Sasuke leaning against his desk.

"You still don't like my plan." Naruto correctly surmised.

"No. I think Konoha needs you here."

"What? Konoha will be in good hands. There's you, Shika, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, Tsunade and many other guys."

"It's not the village's defence I'm worried about. It's the system of governance. You, the head of the government, are going to be gone at a crucial moment." Naruto stood up with a crooked smile on his face.

"Aw, are you saying that the village will fall apart without me?" Naruto teased.

"Don't be cocky, loser." Sasuke smirked. Naruto sauntered over to sit by Sasuke's side. Their shoulders brushed against each other.

"Konoha will be fine. There's you and Shikamaru to hold the fort while I'm gone."

"I am no good with diplomacy. I neither have the skill nor the authority for it." Sasuke said in a slow longsuffering tone. Naruto snorted and nudged Sasuke playfully.

"When have you ever been less than skilled at anything you put your mind to? Besides, you are the Shadow Kage." Sasuke nudged him back with a bit more force sending Naruto's upper body swinging sideways away from him.

"Not only does calling me the 'Shadow's shadow' not make sense, but it means nothing to everyone but you." Sasuke quipped. Naruto careened his body back to Sasuke with an aborted huff of laughter. Naruto knocked his head gently on Sasuke's shoulder as he started speaking again.

"It sounds so cool though. You'll come up with something." Naruto peered up Sasuke's face where fond exasperation littered Sasuke's expression. With his hair no longer hiding his eye, Sasuke's expressions were much easier to discern and appreciate. Sasuke's emotions flickered over his face like light being reflected off the surface of a pool at the height of summer. The affection, when Naruto caught it, was as blinding as the glare of that same reflected light. It made Naruto's breath catch in the quietest yet most profound way.

Naruto looked away before his gaze turned into a stare. Their hands were both on their laps almost touching. In fact, as Naruto focused more on the two hands he could see minute twitching in both of their hands towards the other.

"Sasuke, when I get back...I need... we need to talk." Naruto murmured not looking away from their hands. He didn't miss the way Sasuke paused,  then breathed out slowly.  Naruto imagined Sasuke schooling his features into his most unaffected facade. Sasuke hummed a noncommittal reply, not asking what it was they needed to talk about even though Sasuke probably knew. There was nothing subtle about what was going on between them.

"I need to say this properly." Naruto felt the need to explain himself. Their hands brushed against each other in the tiniest contact, too brief to be deliberate. Naruto let his hand rest on its side, the action causing the back of his hand to brush against Sasuke's hand. Sasuke didn't say anything, he just mirrored the motions of Naruto's hand so their hands were back to back brushing against each other: fingers intermingling but not intertwining. Naruto felt a huge grin spread on his face.

This was one of those things you just knew deep down in your soul. Whatever happened, this wouldn't fade. As romantic as that sounded, it was a frightening reality.

"Don't make me have to come and get you on this mission of yours loser." Sasuke's voice jarred him put of reverie.

"As if! Last I checked, we were tied!"

"Was this before or after the Akumu incident?" The smirk was evident in Sasuke's tone. Naruto still wasn't looking at him, their hands were still touching, but that tone got him narrowing his eyes at the smug bastard faster than his mind could remind him why he wasn't looking. Sasuke's face was close. Too close. Naruto stalled before responding.

"That only means it's my turn to save you." Sasuke made a amused noise in the back of his throat that conveyed his skepticism. Brown eyes brimmed with mirth, face glittered with affection and the most intriguing smirk (no different from the other smirks Sasuke pulled) captured Naruto's attention. Of their own accord, Naruto eyes travelled over Sasuke's lips then returned to the brown eyes that kept boring into him.

"Bastard." Naruto grumbled dragging his focus off of Sasuke and hurling it at the first non-Sasuke thing he could find. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have many things to say.  
> 1\. I know I said the dramatic confession would happen by Narutos 3rd chapter. Look it'll happen ok. I'm not planning on dragging this out any longer than it has to but it has to be done right(by my standards at least)  
> 2\. I know my grammar is awful. Every time I read it, i spot like a billion more mistakes.  
> 3\. The Jougan (one of the bigger mistakes made by the Boruto franchise in my opinion but I gotta work with it).  
> 4\. This isn't all that's hidden in the Hyuuga closet btw.


	22. An Endless Devotion

The Hyuuga had divided into five groups to scout the perimeter of the hideout. Each group had a clone with them in case they were captured. Naruto had opted to stay with Hiashi's group and scout with them.

The Hyuuga were a serious bunch, even more so when travelling with the Hokage and their clan head. The conversation was so dry and respectful, Naruto wished he was still young enough to resort to pulling pranks to lighten the mood. The only person Naruto was familiar with in the group was his former father-in-law and that was, in Naruto's mind, worse than being alone in a group of reclusive nin who all looked eerily similar.

Naruto had been mildly surprised that Hiashi had chosen to join the mission party amongst some of the most skilled Byaakugan users from both branches of the family. Most of the nin chose to keep their identity hidden behind a mask of some sort.

Naruto also noticed that Hanabi was not part of the party; she and the rest of the Hyuuga were keeping peace in the clan compound until Naruto and Hiashi returned. As the heir, and very soon to be head of the clan Hiashi had emphasized, Hanabi was getting a taste of the true burdens of power and leadership in Hiashi's absence.

Hiashi stood with two the other Hyuuga in their group, a plain scroll in their hands and the Byaakugan showing prominently on their faces. The groups were using their Byaakugan to see into fortress Qin Shi had build from afar: an dome of rock sprouting from the ground that stunted the use of sensory abilities outside of it. As a precaution against detection, Naruto had compressed his chakra presence and entered a plain Sage mode to blend in with the natural senjutsu around them. That in addition to the stone dome should have been enough to ensure he wasn't detected by the Otsutsuki.

Hiashi moved away from the other two nin towards Naruto.

"Hokage-sama, we are almost done drawing our map of the area. We await the return of the other groups to complete the map of the area."

"That is good. That was quick." Naruto complimented.

"Whatever our differences, we are family and we will save our own." Hiashi stated. The two stood in silence for a while watching the two nin finalise whatever they were drawing on the scroll.

"Thank you, Naruto, for helping the Hyuuga. I know, politically, we've rarely been on the same side." Hiashi murmured quietly. Naruto nodded quietly, the Hyuuga were the Elder Council's most powerful ally in Konoha. While never outwardly clashing, Naruto and Hiashi's influence had contended against each other so often that family affairs had been a minefield whenever politics or work in general had been brought up.

"We want to achieve peace with as little violence as possible, for once, that has to be enough." Naruto murmured back. The two nin made sure not to look like they were listening to what was being said. Hiashi gave a quiet chuckle.

"Yes, it has to be. We have to believe that if we keep our hearts and minds true, we will not be led astray." Naruto did not think he would ever understand how age had changed Hiashi the way it did. Or how his old self and new self existed concurrently the same way he stood for the clan hierarchy and yet held his own doubts, working in his own way to breach the divide between the two branches.

Hiashi's expression shifted, a slight tensing of his face and then his face settled into a stern expression.

"They are returning." Hiashi announced to everyone. Soon the nin appeared in the clearing, all with scrolls of their own. The scrolls were put in the centre and compared as the group came up with a plan on how infiltrate the base.

"The antechamber with all the people under the genjutsu is in the east wing of the dome here. The whole thing seems to be a maze designed to keep people trapped should they wander in. The Byaakuga will help us find the quickest way through." One of the Hyuuga said.

"There are a lot more people in there than we anticipated. It could easily be a 100 nin in those statues."

"That is significantly more than we accounted for. Hokage-sama, what do you suggest we do." Hiashi said looking to Naruto. Naruto pondered quietly.

"We cannot leave people trapped there being drained of their chakra. We might as well be leaving them to die." Naruto knew it wasn't what the Hyuuga wanted to hear. Trying to save the others greatly lowered their chances of success when saving their own.

"As soon as we enter the antechamber, we forego all subterfuge. Let's break out as many statues as we can. What happens after that..." Naruto shrugged. The Hyuuga all nodded seriously, pale expressionless grey eyes betraying nothing.

"And if we should be confronted by the Otsutsuki?" Hiashi asked.

"Grab what we can and go. We are at far too great a disadvantage now to engage. This isn't an elimination mission it is a retrieval." Naruto said decisively hitting the base of his fist into an open palm. Naruto saw approval in Hisashi eyes as the man nodded.

Stealth missions had never been Naruto's forte, he just had too much chakra and a too distinct signature to not go unnoticed. Still the use of Sage mode and an agreement with Kurama that the demon retreat further within the jinchuuruki seal provided a decent enough camouflage. The crew moved quickly through the stone maze, the Byaakugan making it easy for the pack leaders to stay on course.

The antechamber was dark, so dark Naruto couldn't see anything. He could feel the pulses of restrained chakra throughout the room, all covered in an ooze for foreignness that exuded from all Otsutsuki chakra. They wasted no time punching through the stone casing to get to the people inside.

A surge of malice and dark chakra told Naruto they had been made. Everyone paused sensing the same thing.

"Move!" Hiashi shouted. Naruto heard multiple thuds of kunai embedding themselves in the geound and explosions breaking open several stone casings. That was a smart idea. With their level of skill, the explosions could weaken or break through the stone without excessively damaging the people trapped inside. The process began moving a lot faster.

Naruto summoned several clones and let Kurama return to the limits of the seal, entering his Sage-Kyuubi mode. Naruto and his clones now cast light throughout the cavern with their fiery golden glow. There was no need for subtlety anymore.

Qin Shi appeared amongst them, furious and palms bleeding from the Rinnegan. The Otsutsuki snarled and stamped his foot on the ground. A powerful pulse of chakra echoed in the chamber and stone warriors erupted from the ground and the walls, capturing dazed nin within their grasp.

"Get out now! I'll cover your exit!" Naruto ordered. His clones rushed to attack the warriors and free more nin. Naruto kept his eyes on Qin Shi ready to engage if the alien tried to attack anyone. Qin Shi waved his hand and the exit sealed shut becoming the same as the stone walls. Then Qin Shi charged. Naruto met him halfway. The two exchanging furious blows and dashed across the room, gusts of wind and debris trailing after them. The Otsutsuki was much slower than when they fought in Konoha. Blood continued to seep out of his Rinnegan as a result of the backlash of all the collapsing genjutsu. It made Qin Shi sloppy. Naruto landed a kick on Qin Shi's temple, sending the Otsutsuki flying across the chamber.

"We need another exit!" Hiashi called out amongst the chaos.The stone statues were steadily outnumbering them. Naruto created a large rasengan and hurled it at the roof. The entire dome shook with the impact as the top of the stone roof broke apart.

"Go!" Hiashi called out to the Hyuuga. Many nin ran up the dome to the exit batting away stone statues that continued to rise up from the ground and step out of the walls. Naruto's attention was drawn back to Qin Shi as he felt an awkward tug at his chakra. Naruto's clones were being absorbed by Qin Shi.

Crap! Naruto had forgotten about that annoying ability. They got what they came for, it was time to go before Qin Shi recuperated from the genjutsu backlash and made himself into a true threat. A brief flare of malevolence is all the warning Naruto got before he barely dodged a barrage of air bullets that whizzed past him. In all the chaos, Naruto hadn't noticed the arrival of Akumu Otsutsuki: her chakra much weaker than it had been than when Naruto first met her. Still her muted presence hadn't dulled her wicked grin or the imposing aura she emitted as her hair grew and gained a life of it's own.

Except for the bodies of those who hadn't been able to fight of the statues the chasm was now empty save for the two Otsutsuki and Naruto. As it stood, Naruto could still outrun them both as long as Qin Shi was debilitated by the genjutsu backlash. As it stood, Naruto knew he was stronger than them but Akumu knew all his moves and Qin Shi still wielded his Rinnegan, a single wrong move would spell disaster for their entire dimension. Underestimating Akumu them was a mistake Naruto wasn't keen on repeating.

"Qin, there is no need to fight. We still hold the advantage, and we've got what we wanted." Akumu strolled up to the other Otsutsuki seemingly unbothered by Naruto's presence. Reality broke apart behind the Otsutsuki and the two stepped back into the void. Reality mended itself back together leaving Naruto alone in the ruins of the dome.

Naruto focused his sensory abilities on feeling out the Hyuuga's chakra signatures. There was a ripple of different chakras not far from where he was. Naruto guessed that was where they had decided to congregate before heading back to Konoha. It didn't take long for Naruto to make his way to them in his Sage-Kyuubi Mode. The Hyuuga were of course expecting him.

"How many did we get?"

"The genjutsu collapsed entirely when the dome was broken. Still, there were a few who were already completely drained of chakra when we got there. It is good that we got there when we did, most nin wouldn't have survived another day of their chakra being drained. " Hiashi said as he subtly led Naruto away from the main group. People were treating each other's wounds barely paying attention to Naruto and Hiashi.

"That is good." Naruto said. There were a couple of discreetly tearful reunions reminding Naruto that, for all their  
strife, the Hyuuga were still a family.

"That isn't all." Hiashi said in a low grave tone.

"It seems the captives retained the memories of the stone statues that personified them." Hiashi continued. The man sighed with a far off look on his face before squaring his shoulders and meeting Naruto's eyes with a hard steel gaze.

"The Otsutsuki used the Hyuuga members to steal Akumu's Rinnegan." Naruto was dumbfounded. Rage quickly superceded the betrayal he felt. Kurama chuckled darkly in Naruto's mind.

Humanity never ceases to disappoint.

"Why weren't Akumu's Rinnegan destroyed as they were meant to be on MY orders and WHY am I finding out about this NOW?" Naruto grit out, his voice rising above their murmuring. Naruto could feel dozens of eyes turn to them. Naruto held out an arm to stop Hiashi from responding.

"Whatever your reasoning, that is still treason." Naruto murmured hiding his tightly clenched fists behind crossed arms and leaning away against a tree face turned away.

"Naruto," Hiashi murmured. Naruto did not look at Hiashi. There were too many emotions warring within him and he was in no mood to try understand what the Hyuuga had been trying to achieve by such a reckless move. The advantage that the shinobi may have had was now practically nonexistent and for what? No, Naruto had not intention of hearing them out. Not this time.

"When the others are ready, you move out for Konoha." Two clones puffed into existence as Naruto once again activated his Sage-Kyuubi mode. Naruto wouldn't stay with them. He would go ahead and begin damage control.

"Hokage-sama." Hiashi said bowing low. Naruto took off, a flash of golden light in the dead of night.

********************************

Naruto hid his chakra as he neared Konoha. He wanted no fanfare, questions or panic when he arrived without the other Hyuuga. His sensory abilities picked up the security nin patrolling. Nothing felt out of place in the village except for once he could feel the rush of fire and lightning that was Sasuke's chakra solidly within Konoha's borders. Almost immediately he felt the weight of Sasuke's focus on him and Naruto stopped and waited, finding a comfortable perch in one of the trees. Sasuke would come find him eventually.

"It's odd being on this side of things," Naruto called out when he felt the sudden shift of Sasuke's presence to being very near to him. Usually Naruto was the one who snuck out of Konoha to meet with Sasuke not the other way around.

"Hiashi told you about Akumu's Rinnegan?" Sasuke stated without preamble coming to sit next to him.Naruto hummed in agreement. He felt Sasuke's eyes on him, assessing quietly.

"Do we know who was behind it?" Naruto asked. The plan reeked of the Elders though Naruto doubted they would be able to prove it.

"Yes, and the rest of the Coucil called for them to be charged with treason." Naruto's eyes widened.

"How?"

"Hanabi named all the Elders she knew involved and the researchers looking into the Rinnegan came forward to testify against them." Naruto blinked slowly taking it all in. He had expected mayhem and in-fighting when he returned to Konoha.

"Was their research destroyed?"

"No. The council deemed the research too... useful to be destroyed." Sasuke scoffed. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"What was the research about?"

"Mainly reproducing the Rinnegan or using its abilities to subdue the tailed beasts."

"It always come back to that." Backstabbing and shady deals. All to secure power against others and be in complete control. It pained Naruto to admit that Sasuke had been right on that aspect at the Valley of the End. As long as such power existed, people would be tempted to commit atrocities in order to wield it. Humanity never failed to disappoint jndeed. They sat in companionable silence for a while.

"Why aren't you going into the village?"

"I will. There's just something I wanted to do before I got sucked into all the madness." Naruto watched as Sasuke tensed the tiniest bit and not say anything.

"Hey Sas," Naruto said. Sasuke grunted an acknowledgement.

"I said there was something I wanted to talk about when I came back." Naruto said taking the plunge. There was a hesitant pause from Sasuke.

"You sure you want to do this right now?" Sasuke said tone low and measured even though Sasuke's tells radiated nothing of the sort. Naruto looked up into the sky and took another moment to center himself.

"I can't think of a better time can you?"

"When there isn't as much political unrest in Konoha or two Otsutsuki running rampant in our dimension?" Naruto rolled his eyes.

"There's always going to be something, teme. Stop looking at me like moment that. What I'm about to say isn't bad." Naruto couldn't pinpoint exactly what was making Sasuke act so antsy. That was making Naruto antsy as well.

"Sasuke, please look at me." Slowly guarded ebony eyes fixed on Naruto. A breath lodged itself in Naruto's throat. Naruto may have convinced himself that the words needed to be said, spent all of his free time building the most heartfelt speech and organising his thoughts, but that all got lost the moment their eyes connected.

"Naruto, you don't have to say anything." Sasuke said a small smile on his lips as he looked away.

I need to, Naruto thought.

"I love you." The words came soft and quiet. Not what Naruto wanted to start with but it was the opening of a floodgates, the first few drops of what would be a torrential flood.

"Sasuke, I love you. I always have, for as long as I've chased after you." Naruto chuckled looking at his hands.

"I don't know how it happened or why exactly. All the reasons I've come up with can't even begin to explain... what you mean to me. I've said no one can sidestep the laws the universe the way you do and I meant it. You..." a sigh filled with wonder and frustration escaped Naruto's lips. He let the most powerful images of Sasuke that he kept stored away imprinted in his mind as if Naruto had his own Sharingan.

"You are amazing, breath taking, dangerous, so deep and... you! You are so fucking impossible Sasuke! It's ridiculous." Naruto laughed to himself. His voice getting stronger as he gained confidence and was bouyed by the emotion.

"There are so many sides of you I keep discovering and I don't ever want to stop. Honestly, I can't believe you never let me see those parts of you till I was on death's door." A hint of playful reproach entered Naruto's voice.

"You challenge me to be a better person while taking me as I am and I love you for it. I'm... in love with you." It was freeing to say those words. An emotional weight being lifted off of Naruto's shoulders. But another weight landed on his chest as Naruto knew he needed to continue.

"I'm not asking for you to do anything with these words. I... know that there's... I know, I... I'll be with you in any capacity you'll have me. Wow, that sounds desperate! Haha," Naruto chuckled self consciously, feeling is voice tightening with returning nerves. Naruto took another breath, steeled himself and looked Sasuke dead in the eye.

"It sounds lame, but it's true. Sasuke, I love you so much and I just wanted you to know without a shred of doubt...how much you are worth to me." Naruto would have kept going but he choked up something awful. The feelings he hardly knew what to do with reached the surface and bleed out.

"Please say something so that I stop talking. I swear I put more thought into this." Naruto with a hint of self-deprecating laughter. Naruto's voice was hoarse as if he had been shouting for hours.

"Dammit Naruto," Sasuke's voice was low and coarse. His eyes were bright and beautiful, a dark soft brown that had Naruto sinking.

"I love you, you know that." Sasuke whispered. Naruto did know.

"I love you with the reckless sort of abandon I promised myself I wouldn't reach ever again. It...amazes me just what I would do for you. I am... endlessly devoted to you." Sasuke said in a tone full of his own wonder as he looked out towards the horizon then back at Naruro. Sasuke's s face was so fond and open, filled with the light he'd found and nurtured in his travels. travelling. Naruto's chest filled to bursting at the sight of the man he loved, by Gods did he love him, smiling fully. Was it real? Could it be? No feat of illusion or imagination could match what Naruto saw.

"I'm far past the point of denying that I am selfish when it comes to you. You have all of me and I'll accept all that you will give and anything else I can take." Naruto said fervently reaching out to caress Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke gave a disbelieving huff of laughter.

"That is... almost poetic." The force between them grew stronger as they maintained eye contact. Usually at this point, one of them would pull away or divert the conversation but not this time. What they shared was fully coming to light. Endless devotion. Naruto liked it. He wished he had thought of the phrase.

My breath, my heart, my soul all point to you.

"Shut up teme. It's true." All of it and a lot more, Naruto thought.

"Besides, 'Love makes all men poets,'" Naruto quoted with a teasing grin swaying into Sasuke's space. Sasuke mirrored the motion.

"Hn, I guess so." Sasuke's eyes lowered to Naruto's lips.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed out leaning in even further.

"Yeah." Sasuke answered meeting Naruto halfway. The kiss was simple, a gentle connection of two souls finally meeting for more than just a fleeting moment. It was security, freedom and honesty. Naruto felt relief. They barely moved away when the kiss was over. Instead, Naruto felt their foreheads touch and his breath intermingled with Sasuke's.

It was ridiculous, Naruto thought, how easy it was to lay himself bare with Sasuke. Complexities such as the love they shared, Naruto could say it was love now, could be felt in such a little act as bump of their foreheads.

"Hey," Naruto whispered between them. He felt Sasuke answering hum leap from Sasuke's lips and vibrate onto his own. The sensation made Naruto's heart flutter pathetically in his chest and heat flared in his face.

"So... what do we do now?"

"I thought you said you thought this through." Sasuke said with a snort. Naruto groaned and dropped his head onto Sasuke shoulder to hide his even redder face.

"Teme, I didn't get that far. I was more concerned with the uh... confessing part."

"Hn. Well, what do you want us to be?" Sasuke's voice dropped to his maddening teasing timbre.

Oh. That voice could mean many things now, Naruto thought.

"Bastard did you not hear my confession, I...want you." Naruto said giving Sasuke a serious look. Sasuke shrugged.

"Then you have me." Naruto furrowed his brows.

"Sasuke, this isn't just about what I--"

"I want you too, and I will have you." Sasuke interrupted firmly. Naruto looked at him, searching for a hint of hesitation or uncertainty. Sasuke let himself be scrutinised, till Naruto gave him a single nod. Naruto believed him.

"There are no expectations here, Naruto. We can wait or take things as slow as we have to. There are a lot of factors we have to consider." Sasuke gave Naruto a loaded look.

Yes. Naruto had just gotten divorced. Their relationship could throw Naruto's recent political decisions in a different light. They had their families and Konoha to consider and look after. It wouldn't be easy.

"I don't want to wait anymore but maybe slow and quiet sounds good." Naruto hedged. He didn't want to hold back what he felt at bay anymore. The impulsive parts of Naruto wanted to rush but he knew thacaa steady head and heart were key here. This wasn't something he wanted to mess up. Sasuke nodded, moving closer to Naruto again. A new heat stirred in his gaze.

"Either way, I'll be by your side," Sasuke murmured by Naruto's lips. Naruto moved his legs to secure himself on the tree branch they were sitting on as he deepened the kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have no idea how much I have suffered getting this chapter done. Anyway its done, they are together now. Naruto confessed! Anyway when we go back to Sasuke's point of view, you will hear more of Sasuke's point of view on that. With their love I'm hoping to portray them building a stable, healthy relationship (those are rare in this fandom apparently) as they learn more about each other and themselves using what they learned from their failed marriages as well.  
> The Hyuuga and the Elders strike again, except this time they went too far. The secondary branch thought they were removing the seal when infact Qin Shi was kidnapping them and replacing them with statues. Times up for the Elders, as for the Hyuuga...  
> The interlude in Naruto's segment will be from Shikamaru's POV (I am looking forward to this one! It's a side characters sort of thing much like the manga had all theses weird shindens)


	23. Come to light

"Boruto and Sarada told me you gave Team 7 hell when I was away." Naruto said not looking up from the papers he was reading. There was only one person who walked into Naruto's office at that hour without knocking.

"They asked if I could train with them." Sasuke replied setting some between them that thudded onto Naruto's desk. The smell of ramen hit Naruto just as the unmistakable logo of Ichiraku ramen caught his eye. Naruto tried to play it cool, forcing his eyes back to his work and ignoring Sasuke's raised eyebrow by blocking Sasuke's gaze with the papers he was reading.

"They enjoyed the challenge. Even Konohamaru and Mitsuki had their fun. Maybe you should take up teaching, teme--" Naruto's stomach growled in protest cutting him off and causing Naruto to freeze mid sentence. He snuck a glance at Sasuke who was still smirking with a knowing look in his eye. 

"There's no point in letting the food go cold dobe. The papers aren't going anywhere." Sasuke teased lightly. Naruto grabbed the food, grumbling his thanks as he felt his cheeks burn. Naruto thought he had outgrown his ability to blush as he got older but since he and Sasuke had gotten together, he found his face warmer more often than not when the two were alone together. Sasuke was merciful and said nothing as he took out his own meal and began eating.

"How is Ichiraku?" Naruto asked between bites. Naruto hadn't eaten since... he hadn't eaten in a while.

"He is well. Glad to see someone is making sure you eat now that you're single and still have your busy schedule."

"Yeah, you even got all the healthy stuff in it." Naruto noted as he picked a vegetable with his chopsticks and eyed it. Sasuke shrugged and continued to eat his own meal.

"Shikamaru said you had been working on decoding some secret documents you found with the Elders." Sasuke hummed his agreement before replying

"There are dozens of documents from different sources and it looks...bad." Naruto noticed the shift of Sasuke hiding behind an impassive expression.

"How bad?" Naruto asked arching an eyebrow. 

"It's why I am here, not just to make sure you've eaten." 

"And here I thought you were romantically bringing food to the one you love." Naruto teased. Sasuke gave a tiny smile.

"That too." They shared a tender moment as their eyes connected. When it came to Sasuke stating his love for him, Naruto always felt like a starved man. It felt as if Sasuke made saying the words an art form. No single confession was the same. Sometimes it wasn't even the topic of discussion in his sentence just something nestled into conversation that made Naruto's chest feel heavy. Other times it was in little backhanded comments that had Naruto floundering between cooing in adorably or shouting in indignation; the indecision making Sasuke smirk even wider which of course left Naruto with no other choice but to loudly express his indignation even as his blood flooded his cheeks.

For all that the declarations in manner and size, they never felt anything less than heartfelt. Naruto was fast learning to crave the many ways Sasuke said I love you and Naruto felt unrepentant for wanting to hear it as many times as he did.

Something akin to bubbles fluttered within Naruto and he reached over to fiddle with Sasuke's hand while trying to mask the dopey grin that splintered across his face.

"Naruto, I have to finish eating." Sasuke said in a breathlessly frustrated voice. Naruto saw heat blooming in the other mans cheeks as well, a rare sight that Naruto indulged in by letting his gaze linger even when Sasuke started eating again and caught him staring.

"We need to go out together for real one of these days." Sasuke looked up from his bowl.

"A date?"

"Yup," Naruto nodded decisively. He expected Sasuke to protest for one reason or another.

"It would have to be somewhere outside Konoha." Naruto blinked twice at the indirect agreement spoken in misleadingly mild tone, then narrowed his eyes. Sasuke wore his serious face as if he were reporting a death toll from one of his missions.

"Well yeah...wait. That's a yes, right?" Naruto decided to clarify before he got ahead of himself. Sasuke gave him a look that said the implication was obvious.

"You never know with you, you prickly bastard." Sasuke disregarded his last statement and continued his meal. The silence was comfortable. Naruto was not trapped in it and felt no desire to break it. Occasionally he glanced at Sasuke who focused on his meal. Despite his best efforts not to, Naruto finished his meal first. He truly had been famished.

"Okay, hurry up slow poke and tell me of this doom and gloom news you've got." Sasuke gave him a withering look.

"I'm not slow. I just don't eat like an uncivilized person."

"Sure, come now we don't have all day." Naruto teased. He saw Sasuke roll his eyes dramatically with a quirk of his lips.

"The elders had ledgers of correspondence and logs going back generations, heavily encoded with some of the most elaborate encryptions and seals Shikamaru and Ino have ever seen." Sasuke began setting his bowl aside. Naruto straightened detecting the grave tone in Sasuke's voice.

"After Ino and Shikamaru had removed all the seals. I began using my Rinnegan to decode the ledgers."

"And?" Naruto said feeling the hair on his necks stand on end.

"It details the groups obsession with controlling the tailed beasts. All their shady deals have been towards that one goal. It looks like they wanted to bind the beasts' power to their DNA or something like that. They...they've been trying for a long time."

"Is that why they sent the Sharingan to Orochimaru?" Naruto asked quietly. It had always seemed weird that the Elders hadn't had the eyes destroyed.

"It's why Orochimaru began human experimentation in the first place. The Sharingan wasn't his first option, it was just the most viable one left. Especially after Kurama's attack on Konoha."

"He started with wood release. That's why he kept trying to bind the Mokuton onto his subjects and how Yamato gained his abilities" Naruto whispered. Wood style, a Senju trait, due to its ties to the natural senjutsu worked as a good seal against the rikudou chakra that tailed beasts were made of. That's why the Council had been silent about Naruto's policy regarding Orochimaru. Why the Council had praised it as a mature decision showing Naruto's experience as Hokage even though Naruto had received quiet backlash from his friends and Tsunade herself. The Council had simply been covering it's tracks.

"His subjects weren't random either. They were all, in some way or the other, Senju or Senju descendants." Naruto's eyes widened.

"I thought Tsunade was the last of the Senju." There was a pause.

"And that is why. A lot of promising Senju children disappeared over the years and Konoha assumed the other nations wanted the potential for the Mokuton for themselves when in reality... When the Council realised they had gone too far and more than doomed the Senju into dying out they moved on." Sasuke's response was soft and filled with empathy clouded with his own pain. The story struck too close to home. Naruto closed his eyes. Gods.

"Who else knows?"

"Just you." Naruto closed his eyes. He was going to have to inform those people what happened to their loved ones. Tsunade...

"You can present your findings to me, Ino and the previous Kage tomorrow. We will decide what to do then." Naruto sighed out. Ino could confirm the events Sasuke described through the Yamanaka intelligence network before they decided to go public with the information. Where would Naruto even fit that meeting anyway? He already had a meeting with Hanabi tomorrow regarding the Hyuuga tensions and their role in the loss of Akumu's Rinnegan. It was quiet for a while.

"I don't suppose you have any good news to share?" Naruto grumbled quietly trying to aim for some levity. It would do no good to stew in this information right now when he didn't know all the details. He would wait until Sasuke gave his full report.

"Isn't that your job?" Sasuke said with a quirk of his eyebrows, aiming for the same levity. 

"It hasn't felt like that lately." The comment came out far sadder than Naruto meant to.

"Naruto," Sasuke said in a tone that had Naruto meeting his eyes. The ebony gaze wasn't tired, disappointed or pitying.

"The Hyuuga are somewhere close to peace. The Elders are in custody, their crimes are coming to light. Things aren't perfect but we are doing what we can to do what is right."

"There are still two crazy aliens roaming around our dimension."

"That isn't your fault." Sasuke's tone slipped into haughtiness along with a condescending tilt of his chin.

"I didn't say it was. I just... want everything to be calm for once you know. No aliens, no scandals and no weird clan civil wars."

"Hn."

"Then we'd be able to go on that date of ours." Naruto could feel Sasuke heave an exasperated sigh.

"Yes, Naruto. We will go on a date."

"I'm holding you to that, teme." Sasuke's mouth moved silently forming what Naruto thought to be curse words and barbs at his overall intelligence.

"Watch it bastard. I'm your lover now, you can't say that stuff about me." Naruto growled. Sasuke gave him a blank look.

"Did I say something?" The man questioned innocently.

********************************

"How is it being Head of the Hyuuga?"

"I... wasn't ready." Hanabi said plainly. Naruto could see how rigid her posture was in the new ceremonial robes of clan leader Hanabi now wore. Her face was expressionless, an unmarred water surface trademark of the Hyuuga. But Naruto could feel the solid presence of her earth chakra on guard, despite the fact that they were the only ones in the room. Naruto hoped to put her at ease.

"Be that as it may, my father's abdication and indictment proved to the secondary branch that the main house isn't courting favours from the Council. Couple that with the rescue of their members from the Otsutsuki without any retribution, there is hope for a peaceful resolution." Hanabi's words were flat despite the stirring that Naruto could see in her eyes. Naruto's marriage to Hinata had taught him to recognize the traces of emotion that couldn't be hidden beneath an impassive veneer.

"So what will you do now?" Naruto said clasping his hands in his table. Distracted by the movement of Naruto's hands, a wave of emotion passed of her face: complex, warring and tired.

"That depends on what you are planning on doing, Hokage-sama." She leveled Naruto a stern look.

"What do you mean?"

"The charges against my...Hiashi have given the Hokage a certain leeway with Hyuuga affairs. I want to know your intentions towards the Hyuuga clan."

"A peaceful resolution to their internal conflict and a fair resolution to the caste system." Naruto sighed out.

"My goals haven't changed, Hanabi." Naruto said with what he hoped was an encouraging smile.

"Removing the Caged Bird seal leaves us too exposed." Hanabi said stiffly.

"Keeping it pushed you further towards war. You may be able to avoid this time but what of five years from now, ten, twenty. Future generations will inherit the same brewing tensions you have and one day..."

"The alternative is to paint a target on our backs." Hanabi almost snapped back.

"You have allies." Naruto reasoned. Hanabi laughed out loud.

"Which ones? The ones that drive us to treason or the ones that use us as fodder in their wars." There was a bitter silence between them. Both parties exhausted with their own wars.

"Those cannot be your only options. Trust someone. You cannot hold the entire future of your clan in just your hands. Like water in your palm, some is bound to leak through the gaps." It was Naruto's way. He had lived that reality all his life. One person could not hold such burdens alone.

"Trust is something hard won." Hanabi said.

"True. But someone can only win something if granted the opportunity." Hinata blinked blankly then something small sparked withinsparked her. Her eyes became distant, Naruto could see possibilities and hope springing up in her mind. Hope.

Hanabi's eyes refocused on him. She gave him a considering smile.

"That...that is something to think about. Those are wise words."

"You sound surprised." Naruto smirked at her. Hanabi's eyes widened briefly in mortification before she caught his smirk.

"If that will be all, Hokage-sama." Hanabi said standing up. Naruto followed suit. Her clothes didn't look as heavy as they did when she had walked in. Naruto could see Hanabi leading her clan into a new age, a better age. It seemed Hanabi could too. There was hope. The two bowed to each other.

"It will be a pleasure working with you, Lady Hanabi. Good luck."

 


	24. Old times in new ways

At first, there had been a certain freedom in not having to feel guilty about not making it to his family for dinner anymore. Naruto no longer lived with Hinata and the kids. He and Hinata were already working on a decent family dinner schedule, one Naruto could reasonably adhere to. Unless he was explicitly invited or asked for a family dinner, Naruto wasn't disappointing anyone.They weren't expecting him.

It wasn't his home to come back to anymore. That stung. Whenever he visited, Naruto and Hinata were perfectly civil and reserved with each other; the kids did their best not to notice or leave them alone lest the awkward air grow and suffocate them all. As soon as the kids retired to their bedrooms, Naruto would make for the exit and more often than not, Hinata would be waiting by the door. The first family dinner after the divorce, Hinata and Naruto had hugged goodbye; a tight lengthy embrace where all their feelings sprung to the surface in the reality of their new situation. Hinata finally pushed him away bidding him a last goodnight before not so gently shutting the door. Hinata did not retreat from the other side of the door and Naruto had found himself unable to walk away either. A futile apology stuck stubbornly in his throat refusing to be voiced or to be swallowed down. It was only when Naruto sensed that Hinata was't the only one behind the door, that his kids were with their mother, comforting her after he...Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

It was an odd time to be missing home, to be missing how raw it made him feel sometimes to be near them,but Naruto guessed he just really wanted to distance himself from anything related to his work for a while. 

Sasuke's report had stunned those present to hear it: Shikamaru, Ino, Tsunade and Kakashi. Everyone had been rightly horrified, a feat that was hard to achieve for a group that had been in two or more wars. Tsunade, to no ones surprise, was the most affected. In private, she had effectively ripped Naruto a new one, not waiting to hear his explanation before storming out of Konoha in search of Orochimaru's current hideout. Tsunade's words regarding Konoha's stance on Orochimaru stuck with Naruto throughout the day. Orochimaru was still a criminal he should never have been allowed to negotiate his freedom, not with how many innocent lives he'd violated, then and now. Naruto had wanted the Hokage position, Tsunade said, he was supposed to be different: better, not...this. Tsunade had been angry, grieving and betrayed; overcome with emotion.Naruto understood that her words shouldn't have been taken to heart. But her words had hit home and stuck with him all day.

The last dregs of government officials were leaving the tower, Naruto could feel the thinning of activity around him even without looking out to see the people leaving the building. There was an uncharacteristic knock on the office door that drew Naruto's attention from the quiet empty haze he'd slipped into. The door opened slowly and Sasuke walked in. 

"You used the door? I'd forgotten you knew how do that." Naruto sighed feeling his lips already stretching into a smile.

"I didn't want to interrupt." Sasuke responded with a quirk of his lips as he approached the desk.

"That's never stopped you before." Naruto teased, gesturing for the other to sit down. 

"I knew you weren't busy and it wasn't during business hours then." 

"Eh, it's practically after hours now." Naruto said squinting forward to look at the tiny digital clock on his computer. 

"You know, you could just send me a message on my phone if you want to see me." Naruto teased leaning back into his seat. 

"So, what can I do for you Sas?" Naruto asked folding his arms behind his head and leaning back into his chair. Sasuke eyed him briefly before speaking. 

"I'm...not here on business." Naruto hummed thoughtfully.

"So you came to check up on me? I'm not flattered." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Kakashi left Konoha, apparently took 3 Anbu team missions and left to complete them by himself. Ino kidnapped Sakura and Sarada for a girls night out or something a long those lines." Sasuke's tone dropped into a worried tone at the end. Ino and Sakura could be wild when left to their own devices. Considering what Ino was probably trying to get off her mind, it was going to be a wild girls night. Naruto had worked with Sarada long enough to know that despite her youth, Sarada would fit right in.

"Are all your friends busy, Sasuke?" Naruto tutted with false sympathy. Sasuke's eyes swirled with a baleful edge even though his mouth twitched up into a smirk. 

"You know, this has to be the longest you've been in Konoha in forever." Naruto said. Sasuke thought about it for a moment and nodded. 

"You starting to go stir crazy?" 

"There's been lots to do. Besides, my family is here and I am not the one who looks undomesticated. You should really do something about your hair loser." 

"What, it can't be that bad! I keep meaning to do it but stuff keeps-" Naruto huffed as his hand went through his hair. It was true, him drying his hair after a shower couldn't cut it anymore. 

"Anyway, you didn't answer the question." 

"Do you want me to go?" Naruto rolled his eyes at that as he groaned and shifted forward planting his elbows on his desk.

"No, teme, you know that's not true. I can actually feel traces of you in the nature chakra around Konoha now." Naruto had gotten so used angling his senses for the slightest hint of Sasuke in the vicinity that the traces of Sasuke that lingered in Konoha felt real. There was a brief pause as Sasuke's eyes bore into Naruto.

"Like I said, Naruto, I've been busy. Between politics,teaching our kids, and my own training , I don't have the time to feel bored." It warmed Naruto's heart to hear Sasuke comfortable enough to talk about Boruto and Sarada. However, something else in the sentence caught his attention.

"Training? What training do you need?" Naruto scoffed.

"Contrary to popular belief, dojutsu don't come with a manual. Especially if you're the only around who wields it." Sasuke said in a droll tone. Dark eyes greyed out into the Rinnegan. The tomoe swirled into appearance, their patterns spinning opposite  the other eye's. 

"Hmm, I wouldn't know, show off, but it can't be that different from when you had only one of them." The Rinnegan deactivated and Sasuke gave Naruto a small smirk.

"You are right, the mechanics of it aren't wildly different but I need to be certain of the limits of my abilities with them. Misjudging that, with the enemies we face, would be costly." 

"Fine," Naruto conceded, "But I still don't see how that can take up much time."

"You underestimate the Rinnegan's capabilities." Sasuke said with an arched eyebrow.

"That's because you're so damn secretive about it! You bite off the head of anyone who asks about it." Naruto exclaimed pointing an accusing finger at Sasuke. Sasuke looked nonplussed at the affronted finger.

"Not everyone: Boruto's asked, Sarada's asked and Sakura's asked, even Konohamaru has asked and I've answered." Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke.

"And if I asked about it now?" Sasuke shrugged with a smirk as a response. Naruto took a deep breath, he would not give Sasuke the satisfaction of reacting explosively to such deliberate glibness. 

"So, Sasuke, what's it like wielding two weird god-eyes." Naruto said with false cheer. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

**********************************************

"Wait that doesn't explain how you can create the black flames without your eyes though!" Naruto exclaimed as they walked into Ichiraku's to get some ramen. Naruto had admittedly gone crazy with the explicit permission to ask about Sasuke's techniques. The conversation had continued until Naruto's stomach had growled loudly, prompting Sasuke to insist Naruto eat something. Naruto wasn't going to let a chance to eat some ramen go to waste so here they found themselves much to Sasuke's chagrin.

"You can mold a Rasengan with one hand right?" Sasuke said.

"Yeah."

"Well how do you do that when the molds of the rasengan are too complex for that." 

"I don't know, its instinctual."

"Exactly, you've done it so many times your chakra needs minimal conscious input to be folded into a rasengan right? The same applies to the ameterasu." Naruto pondered that as they sat down at a table. 

"But my hands aren't the basis of the rasengan, not to mention the rasengan is physical." Naruto pointed put. Sasuke paused at this, seemingly thinking it over as well.

"Just admit it. You, Uchiha Sasuke, are cheating." Naruto with faux seriousness that was ruined by an aborted snort of laughter. Sasuke looked at him baffled and also faintly amused.

"Cheating at what?" 

"Cheating at everything! You can't use dojutsu abilities when your eyes are blindfolded." Naruto gestured wildly at everything around them. Sasuke's eyes followed his swinging arms, twinkling sweetly in the twilight. 

"I can summon the Susanno without the Mangekyou." He said evenly.

"Exactly. More. Cheating." Naruto stated with a slap on the table between each word. Sasuke leaned back, his eyes never once losing their shine or straying from Naruto's.

"Really. This, coming from a man with a limitless supply of demon chakra and nature chakra." Kurama chuckled in Naruto's head.

"Damn right! What's your excuse?" Naruto said tapping the table once again.

"Don't you dare say it!" Naruto warned. Sasuke wanted to say he was that good a ninja, Naruto just knew it. He could tell just from the way Sasuke's mouth quirked and his body had swayed forward, Sasuke's demeanor well on its way to an arrogant lilt.

A throat cleared pointedly beside them. Naruto jerked back into awareness to find Teuchi standing by their table looking fondly exasperated. Age had begun to weather the man down and Naruto had to always restrain himself from reacting to Teuchi's dwindling life energy. Still, it was always a pleasure to see the man.

"Heh, sorry Teuchi, were we being loud?" Naruto snuck a glance at Sasuke whose lips twitched when their eyes met briefly. Naruto forced his eyes back onto Teuchi and focused on maintaining a contrite expression.

"Hmm, not this time. I came to check on how you were doing since the divorce?" Teuchi's eyes roamed over the two of them slowly. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck slowly as he replied.

"It's been an adjustment," Naruto admitted.

"But the divorce was a long time coming and I'm dealing. In fact, I'm good." Naruto shared a smile with Teuchi. The man hadn't asked many questions when the divorce proceedings became public, hadn't changed or reacted much at all. Naruto looked at Sasuke again, who was watching the exchange impassively. Sasuke raised his eyebrows in response.

"I can see that. I'm glad. Take care of yourself Naruto and try to come by sometimes not just your copies, I may not be a ninja but I can tell you apart from the rabble. So come by alright, an old man likes to know his kids are alright." Naruto was floored by the words and bowed his head. 

"Of course, Teuchi." The old man nodded in approval and walked away, but not before stopping by Sasuke and murmuring something about smiling Naruto couldn't quite catch. Both men looked at Naruto as Sasuke nodded mutely.The rest of their dinner went by uneventfully. Sasuke and Naruto did end up getting lively enough to earn an amused and equally reproachful stare from Teuchi that had Naruto ducking his head bashfully and Sasuke chuckling under his breath.

It was only when they left the restaurant and Naruto gave a satisfied sigh to the stars that a particular memory washed over him and left him spluttering in its wake tugging urgently at Sasuke's cloak.

"What, Naruto?" Sasuke asked perplexed at his behaviour.

"You." Naruto whispered still dazed at his discovering but having the presence of mind to make sure no one was eavesdropping before adding, "You took me on a date." Sasuke blinked owlishly at him for a few seconds. Naruto pointed back in the direction of Ichiraku Ramen, then mimed them walking together their present position and then gave a cursory glance to the night sky.

 _Dinner and a romantic walk under the night sky, the epitome of romance._ Naruto bemoaned mentally. 

"No." Sasuke said drawing out the word till it sounded more like a question rather than a statement. Naruto was unimpressed and raised his eyebrows at the other man. Sasuke seemed to think on it some more before glancing at the ground then facing Naruto again with a quiet sigh. 

"At least, that wasn't my intention." No, it clearly wasn't. Naruto could give him that. The two had reached the point where the paths to their houses diverged. Naruto to the lower district towards the centre of town and Sasuke further to the southern edge of the village. They stalled. Both moved to speak at the same time then paused when they saw the other about to do the same. Sasuke motioned for Naruto to speak. 

"I had fun tonight, Sas, more than I've had in a while. Believe it." Naruto murmured. Sasuke nodded.

"I'm... glad. I did too."

"Me saying that, it was just a startled observation. I mean we were basically hanging out." Just that in the context of what they were to each other, tonight could have easily been something else. Sasuke peered at him.

"Do you want to us to start doing that now?" Sasuke asked.

"No, not yet. We both agreed to start that outside of Konoha first right? Away from the public eye?" Sasuke hummed an affirmative reply looking up to the sky.

"Sasuke?"

"Teuchi said you don't smile like that for anyone else. And that I should keep you smiling." Naruto felt his cheeks warm.

"Ok and?"

"I find that I agree with him." Sasuke said looking Naruto dead in the eye.

"So you want to tell everyone now?" Naruto exclaimed. Not that Naruto was complaining, it was just a sudden turnaround from the usual Sasuke. Sasuke chuckled shaking his head.

"No, dobe. I am just..." Naruto's emergency phone rang piercingly loud in the evening air. Naruto swore as he answered.

"Naruto, you need to get back to the tower immediately. We have an update on the Otsutsuki, they're in the Mist. If you can get in touch with Sasuke tha'd be great." Shikamaru ended the call just as abruptly as it began. Sasuke had clearly heard everything.

"Fancy going back to the Hokage Tower?" Naruto asked rhetorically, already turning back in the direction they came. 

"What I meant to say is, I'm looking forward to going on...dates... with you." Sasuke murmured behind him. Naruto halted his crusade for the Hokage Tower and turned. Sasuke looked both relieved and anxious at the same time. Naruto discreetly caught Sasuke's hand briefly and squeezed.

"So am I, Sas. We'll be great, dattebayo!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long to get out. The story had to take a lull in plot. I hate it when a story continues buildiing and building in intensity without allowing the reading to adapt or their character's to grow into their situation. Like take a break from the angst yo. For me this is most obvious in those shows that never end. Each season there's a new bigger badder evil with more at stake and the situation is more complex, more tragic, the villian's intentions are even more convoluted. More, more, more. there comes a point where you're just flogging the dead plot horse of grand reveals you know.  
> There was a moment a few weeks ago when I posted this half baked chapter and it was like two paragraphs long. How embarrassing!


	25. Into the Mist Part 1

"Konoha will be supplying med nin with adequate fighting skill along with three ANBU and Intelligence squads." Naruto began standing behind his desk facing the fifteen odd people in the room. They were all attentive, waiting to be debriefed for their mission ahead. It had been a mad scramble trying to come up with a team for their set mission parameters at such an odd hour of the night but luckily, Shikamaru had already started compiling possible configuration before Naruto returned to the Hokage's Tower.

"The ANBU's objective will be to neutralise the nin supporting the Otsutsuki. Lord Aburame will lead the team neutralising the human targets and Lady Yamanaka will lead the team taking control of the stone army. Lady Uchiha will lead the med nin in rescuing the injured and those that have been trapped and are being chakra drained by Qin Shi's earth seal." Naruto glanced at his friends as he spoke gaining determined nods from each of them as their eyes connected. Few missions ever required this many high ranking and high profile nin to complete. Naruto had chose very specialised nin in an effort to keep their numbers low while still covering as many of the requirements as possible.

"Do not engage the Otsutsuki. Until, the Kumo armed forces arrive, Sasuke, the Mizukage, and I are the only ones who will engage the aliens." Though Naruto wasn't even certain if Chojuro was still alive at this point. The nin sent by Chojuro to relay the message about the attack on the Hidden Mist was only able to give them a location of were to meet and details of the invasion.

The Mist was the most unstable country of the five shinobi nations. Its people were barely united under a tenuous confederation that Chojuro and his predecessor had been steering towards peace and a more cohesive ties with other nations. Many in the Mist, who then dubbed themselves the Mist skeptics, weren't interested in alliances past their borders though. The skeptics argued that they had enough blades already aimed their backs within the Mist already. Why add more? What use were these 'allies' when there was a sea separating the Mist from the mainland?

The Otsutsuki had used the distrust and fear to gather support and mount a coup in the Mist. Stone warriors rose from the ground and traitors revealed themselves, turning on their comrades and sabotaging any defense and communication systems before any attempts at resistance had been made. Chojuro and his charge had not been prepared for a sudden attack on so many fronts. All the Mizukage had been able to do was send scouts across the sea to Darui and Naruto.

Without them, the scout had informed them grimly, the Mist would fall.

"I repeat, do not engage the Otsutsuki." The teams nodded. Naruto looked to Sasuke, prompting him to open the portal. Space shifted into a dark indigo spiral. The nin began jumping through.

"We aren't prepared for war." Naruto murmured to Sasuke as they watched the others go through.

"People rarely are when they aren't the ones instigating it." Sasuke replied just as quietly. 

"I've missed us going on missions together. Too bad it requires a global threat for the opportunity to present itself." Sakura said as it was just the team leaders left.

"Couldn't even happen at a decent hour of the day either," Shino grumbled his mouth stuck in an awkward pout. Naruto still found it difficult to believe that there were nin in Konoha who would never show their face. 

"I've got to agree with Shino. Bad guys should only attack during work hours." Ino said her face sliding out of professionalism to a bleary slouch. Shikamaru's posture had already crumbled to his comfortable late. Shikamaru was the luckiest out of all of them as he was staying in Konoha and returning to his own bed as soon as everyone left.

"Come on guys, let's do this." Sakura said confidently striding through the portal. 

"Some of us are getting old and don't work crazy doctor hours," Ino continued grumbling as she followed through the portal as well. Shino trodded after her.

"Take care of this place while I'm gone, Shika." Naruto called out as he approached the portal. He could feel the slightest draw from the currents of chakra that twisted the reality it occupied into some sort of tunnel through space-time. Shikamaru yawned leaning against Naruto's desk before replying.

"Don't I always?" Naruto grinned at him before stepping through the portal and appearing on the other side. Sasuke followed after, the portal closing behind him and his Rinnegan's glow fading away. They had landed on a beach that had reminded Naruto of the one he and Sasuke had visited in the genjutsu. The sound of waves crashing against the shoreline overtook Naruto's senses, the lull  and build of it quickly drawing Naruto's attention to the sea. He wasn't used to the sound of it, the feel of a wet breeze against his skin, the pressure against his ears from the sudden change in altitude or the swaft of salt carried in the air. It was different. Nothing like warmth and the flutter of leaves back home. Or the hint of pine and juniper in the air and the solid feel of earth and rock underneath his feet. This land had its own beauty, a quieter more confounding sort of allure that hung behind the curtain of ever present Mist. Always dancing just shy of Naruto's sight no matter how hard Naruto looked. The place was just too foreign.

The Land of Water was, by far, Naruto's least favourite of the five great shinobi nations. A scattered mass of island arcs that had grown and conjoined to form a twisted land mass almost a full country width away from the main continent. The volcano that had formed the small continent was still active and was used as a weapon by warring clans in times of unrest -- which was basically always when it came to the Mist. The people of the Mist were skeptical, unwelcoming and generally paranoid, traits that left the other four nations hesitant to get to involve with the nations political climate. Naruto, as Hokage, had really tried to bring the Mist to the forefront of international affairs but the situation had backfired spectacularly when the Mist Confederacy spurned him in favour of the Land of Lightning. Konoha's Council had pounced on the situation citing wasted resources that had pushed the Mist towards the Land of Fire's economic rivals. It was why Darui was the one supplying the bulk of military forces aiding the liberation of the Mist, it stepped on less diplomatic toes. For all that Naruto loved his job, the political maneuvering it required had a tendency to leave a bad taste in his mouth.

"Naruto, I'm glad you're here." Chojuro called out with a sharp grin. The man looked worse for wear, his clothes were torn, bloddy and caked with muddy stains. He was flanked by his nin all wearing their usual grey and white garb.

"Chojuro, what's happening?" Naruto said getting straight to business. 

"It's a full on coup. The Otsutsuki got the support of one of Daimyo's rivals, infiltrated the government, murdered the Daimyo and instilled a new government. Between the Otsutsuki and the betrayals,  we barely lasted two days before we were pushed out of the main cities and they began hunting us down like wild game.The new Daimyo named Akuma his new Mizukage." Chojuro sighed out. 

"What sort of power hungry fool would do that?" Naruto wondered out loud.

 "Qin Shi promised them to recreate the God Tree and make his allies immortal." Chojuro said grimly. 

"Could he actually do that?" Naruto asked. 

"Theoretically, yes." Sakura answered in a thoughtful tone.

"Though it would require a lot more effort than he is probably letting on. Even if he were to drain every last drop of chakra from the Mist, whatever method he would try to create a God Tree without the tailed beasts would be suicide." Sakura concluded.

"Well, we know they've been farming all their opposition into some mausoleum so that fits in with what you are saying at least." Chojuro said.

"You've found their base of operations?" Naruto asked.

"Its hard to miss. The volcano is lined with hundreds and hundreds of statues." Chojuro said airily. There was a silence as the group considered the information.

"How do you want to play this Chojuro?" Naruto asked. 

"The people trapped in the stone are being drained of chakra correct?" Chojuro asked rhetorically looking to the vague shape of the volcano through the mist. 

"Then we save the people there first before they are completely drained. This will also remove any extra chakra the Otsutsuki may use against us. Hopefully we will draw the attention of both the aliens, without them in Kirigakure the traitors will fall or turn on each other. It's only their greed that binds them together. Darui and his nin have instructions to fight their way to the capital. Mei is waiting for them there with further instructions." 

 "He is floating literally above the volcanic crater. There is no sign of the lady one though." Shino reported tersely. The Aburame had already dispatched their insects to do some reconnaissance work as soon as they had arrived on the island.

"And he can tell that our insects aren't ordinary insects. The alien can sense us through them and we can feel him watching us.His presence is... unsettling." Which was saying much coming ftom Shino.

"We need to get him away from the volcanic crater, the people trapped in the stone are collateral damage there and he holds too great an advantage if we try fight our way up to him." Sasuke added. 

"Could you swap places with him if we got you close enough?" Naruto asked. Sasuke nodded.

"My Amenotejikara now has a greater limit." 

"Ok. Freeing the people is our priority. Sasuke, Chojuro and I will keep the Otsutsuki busy." Naruto said looking to Chojuro for confirmation. Chojuro nodded. 

"Then let's go!" Naruto exclaimed smashing his fist into his palm. The nin all disappeared in a blur. Naruto, Sasuke and Chojuro led the pack moving quickly through the mist island forests. Soon they broke through the forest line and starting speeding up the volcano. Naruto felt Qin Shi's chakra flare a dark foreboding aura that caused fissures to start forming down the volcanic cone. Some statues began to crumble or sink through the cracks. People already dying before their fight had even begun in earnest. Naruto felt a weight sink in his chest. This wasn't a no losses mission there would be more deaths before this fight was over. Chojuro had probably seen more than his fair share already,

"Now!" Sasuke shouted as he became bathed in streaks of lightning and leapt ahead of them sword out and coursing with a chidori. Just as expected, a sudden flicker had Qin Shi now barreling towards them, his face a mixture of surprise that fast turned to amusement. Naruto activated his Kyuubi-Sage Mode and lifted his fist to atack the alien.  Beside him, Chojuro had unwrapped his sword, Hiramekarei, that glowed a luminiscent blue with its stored chakra. Qin Shi was prepared to meet them. The alien caught the sword in one hand and Naruto's fist in the other before the force off their collison to somersault over Naruto and Chojuro to avoid their kicks. Chojuro swung his blade in broad cutting motion releasing a swathe of chakra aimed at Qin Shi. A grey palm shot out to absorb the attack and redirect it to the the statues shattering an entire section into dust. Chojuro swore as the alien laughed darkly.A metallic glint shot past Naruto that Naruto recognised to be Kusanagi when Qin Shi caught it before it hit the alien's chest. The sword the erupted into an electric surge that briefly stunned their enemy. Naruto wasted no time in land rapid brutal strikes in quick succesion that had the alien flying off down the mountain side. The other had arrived on the scene freeing people as they went up the volcano. Swarms of insects were tunneling through the stone casings aiding peoples escapes. Naruto grinned savagely as he saw Qin Shi's Rinnegan bleed in his palms. The recoil of the broken link between Qin Shi and his victims was kicking in.

"Cheap tricks won't win you this fight. I still hold the advantage." Naruto felt chakra move through the ground and surge into the Qin Shi as the alien gave a mighty roar. The chakra drain caused multiple statues to further collapse into dust and the other casings shattered open causing blood to flow steadily out of the Otsutsuki's palms. It seemed Qin Shi had given up on his chakra draining genjutsu and the continuous recoil as the link shattered in favour of a sudden power boost. The victims that had survived the last chakra drain were now lying prone on a semi active volcano with a very mad bloodthirsty alien. A pyrrhic victory.

"Nothing is ever easy with this lot is it." Chojuro muttered. Sasuke appeared beside them, kusanagi now back in hand.

"Akuma is coming. We cannot engage them with these many bodies lying about, we are holding back and they will not." Sasuke said quickly. It was Momoshinki all over again. Except these aliens had no interest in capturing and moving the venue of their battle for them.

"Any suggestions?" Chojuro asked. Naruto found Sasuke's eyes gleaming with significance. Sasuke's plan was terrible. Beyond terrible. Naruto felt his face contort into an incredulous frown before he could restrain himself.

 _Qin Shi would just open his own portal and come back._ Annoyance flared briefly in Sasuke's eyes before a calm mein took over.

 _There was no time to hash out the details or come up with a better plan. They were doing this apparently._  Qin Shi made a move to attack them, his aura a dark meteorite, barreling towards them. Sasuke probably planned to taking Qin Shi somewhere really far away -- dimensionally speaking -- where even the Otsutsuki would have trouble finding his way back. This would only work once. Qin Shi would not fall for it again. Just before impact, a portal swirled into being behind them. Sasuke weaved around Qin Shi's attack as Naruto used the tails formed by his chakra cloak to push the alien through the portal. Chojuro, a quick study, swung his blade at Qin Shi making the alien jerk back into the portal. 

At the last second, Qin Shi's hand jerked out and chakra chain shot out and wrapped itself around Sasuke. Naruto used his tails to keep Sasuke from being tugged in after the Otsutsuki.

"Hurry, close the portal." The portal shrunk but refused to close. 

"Can't close it while something exists on both sides." Sasuke grit out. They all saw Akuma arrive on the battlefield. She appeared above the crate just Qin Shi had been and her gaze immediately locked on them. 

"Naruto." Sasuke warned.

"You'd better come back, bastard." Naruto muttered searching for Sasuke's eyes and connecting. Sasuke's face softened a bit before he nodded. Naruto let go and Sasuke was dragged through the portal before it whirled shut.

"Oh did I miss all the fun? Where did Qin Shi and Sasuke go?" Akuma said in faux concern as she floated towards them. Naruto could see Rinnegan had now replaced her Byaakugan. Naruto could feel her aura was erratic and unpredictable. 

"You look a little worse for wear, Akuma." Naruto taunted, gearing himself up for another fight. Akuma just smirked. Her hands moved in the motion of a prayer, up from her hips meeting above her head then sliding down together to her chest. As they moved several copies of her hands appeared to trail after her, and as each set completed the motion, a copy of Akuma would step out from behind her joining the original in a creepy parody of prayer till there were six of them.

"What do you think of my little rendition of your cloning jutsu hmm? Your memories provided a lot of... insight." All six of them said in tandem. Chojuro split his sword into two.

"I've given up on thinking this day will look up at some point." Chojuro muttered. Naruto reignited his chakra cloak and activated the Six Paths Sage Mode. Three Truth seeking balls appeared behind him. The only ones he had left after his fight with Madara. It had taken him almost a decade to relearn the technique without Hagoromo's chakra. Two truth balls shaped into weapons in his hands.

"Bring it!"  Naruto called out. Sasuke would be alright wherever he was. He had to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so with Water Daimyo's death, we set up for the final movement of the political shenanigans as they will now all converge. Involving the Daimyo was something I've been debating since the beginning of the second Act. They weren't really elaborated on in the show.  
> Anyway, one more chapter in Naruto's POV then we will back to Sasuke pov.


End file.
